DATE=5/3/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=U-N / EAST TIMOR ROLE
NUMBER=5-46251
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=DILI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: UNTAET -- the United Nations Transitional
Administration in East Timor - was established to
help rebuild the territory after it was laid
waste by armed militia groups eight months ago.
But the slow pace of improvement has led to a
growing sense of resentment among many East
Timorese. Patricia Nunan recently visited the
territory and filed this report from the capital
Dili.
TEXT:
/// ACT -- jeering ///
In an incident last month, crowds of people
jeered United Nations police at the U-N
headquarters in Dili. Tempers had flared when
about 100 men who came to the U-N office to learn
if they had job interviews, were told to come
back again the following week. They had been told
the same on each the previous three weeks.
It has been five months since UNTAET - the United
Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor
-- took up the task of running the territory.
The U-N mission replaced the international
peacekeepers who arrived in East Timor in the
wake of its destruction by anti-independence
militias. But already the patience of many East
Timorese has begun to wear thin. The reason --
jobs. And everyone has a different view of the
situation.
/// ACT - MAN 1 (in East Timorese
dialect)
One many says, "the jobs that the U-N offers are
just for people who are well educated. Those
people with just a basic education get left
behind."
/// ACT - MAN 2 (in East Timorese
dialect)
Another man says, the United Nations has not
given out enough work -- the only jobs are for
security, drivers or cleaners. He asks: "What
are we supposed to do when the U-N leaves?"
UNTAET has promised to provide some jobs to the
East Timorese -- 85 percent of whom were left
unemployed after most homes, businesses and much
of East Timor's infrastructure was destroyed by
the militias. Most of the employment will be
generated by quick-impact projects such as road-
building.
But so far little of the 520 million dollars
pledged by the international community for East
Timor has been disbursed.
Lucy Oh is a spokesperson for the World Bank.
/// ACT OH ///
There's a lot of money that has come in from
donors and we're likely not to see this money
coming in again, in the future. So we have this
one opportunity to get this right, to make sure
these quality projects don't have high-
maintenance costs in the future when East Timor
becomes independent.
/// ACT -- CONSTRUCTION SOUNDS ///
But the challenge facing the East Timorese is far
greater than merely rebuilding what was
destroyed. East Timor has to create a viable
economy that is not dependent on international
aid.
Many say the answer is coffee.
While much of East Timor's infrastructure was
destroyed, its crops were not. The World Bank
estimates that this year's coffee crop will be
the equivalent to the harvest of 1996 -- roughly
eight thousand tons. That translates into almost
18 million dollars in revenue. Coffee
cooperatives funded by the United States support
17 thousand families. That figure is expected to
double within the next two to three years.
On a recent visit, the American Ambassador to
Indonesia and East Timor, Robert Gelbard, gave
East Timorese coffee a ringing endorsement.
/// ACT - GELBARD ///
Most of this coffee is sold to Starbucks in the
United States and provides the body for something
called "Cafe Verona." Why Starbucks isn't selling
this as East Timorese coffee, I don't quite
understand, but it's first-rate coffee and I
drink it myself at home, and serve it in the
embassy.
/// END ACT ///
Another source of revenue is the Timor Gap -- the
body of water between East Timor and Australia,
believed to hold massive oil and gas reserves.
East Timor's leaders have promised to act in good
faith when they renegotiate an 896 million dollar
gas exploration contract with two Australian
firms. The contract was originally signed with
Indonesian authorities.
But East Timorese economics adviser Joao Mariano
Saldanha says East Timor's entire economy should
not rest on oil and gas reserves.
/// ACT SALDANHA ///
For the purpose of sustained economic development
in the future, I think we should look into
agriculture, look into tourism, look into
manufacture, if there is any, and also trade.
///END ACT ///
East Timorese leaders are aware they also have to
overcome years of isolation, the lack of an education
system and an East Timorese professional class -- all
consequences of 24 years of fighting with Indonesia.
That is why East Timor's leaders are looking further
afield. They hope to attract 20 to 30 thousand
professionals from the East Timorese diaspora and put
them to work back home. They say East Timor's
potential is vast, but enormous effort is needed to
realize it.
NEB/PN/FC
03-May-2000 05:55 AM EDT (03-May-2000 0955 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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