DATE=10/11/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=EAST TIMOR / REBUILDING
NUMBER=5-47149
BYLINE=ALISHA RYU
DATELINE=DILI, EAST TIMOR
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The presence of international peacekeepers is restoring calm to East Timor - devastated last year by militias opposed to independence from Indonesian rule. The situation is now encouraging a steady flow of refugees to leave their camps in West Timor and return home. But as V-O-A's Alisha Ryu reports from East Timor capital, Dili, what the returning refugees face is uncertainty and a shattered land that is making a transition to independence.
TEXT: From a distance, Dili looks like a quaint, picturesque town tucked in between East Timor's rugged coastline and curving mountains that stretch across the island.
But up close, Dili can hardly be called a city. It exists at the moment only as a grim reminder to the weeks of violence and destruction unleashed by militias determined to keep the territory from separating peacefully from Indonesia.
/// OPEN FOR SOUND OF TRAFFIC EST & FADE UNDER ///
A drive through downtown Dili reveals the extent of the damage. Even though it has been more than a year since the militia rampage, almost every building and home still bears the mark of hatred and revenge. Many houses stand merely as empty shells, scorched, and abandoned. Others have been reduced to little more than a pile of rubble.
Militias backed by elements of the Indonesian military conducted a campaign of terror and intimidation. They killed hundreds of people in Dili and elsewhere when East Timor voted for independence in a U-N referendum on August 30th, 1999. The violence only stopped when international peacekeepers arrived in the country the following month.
Local resident Dominguez Suarez says daily life in East Timor is still extremely difficult. But she says she has noticed changes that are starting to make a difference.
/// SUAREZ ACT ///
People from other countries have come here. They want to fix our country for our future.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPEN FOR SOUND OF HAMMERING AND WELDING EST. AND FADE UNDER ///
The reconstruction of Dili and East Timor has been underway since the beginning of the year. The transitional government with thousands of international and local workers - is currently overseeing efforts to restore basic services and to lay down the infrastructure for a future government. But U-N spokesperson Barbara Reis says so far, the task has not been easy.
/// FIRST REIS ACT ///
It is literally starting from scratch in terms of infrastructure. The process is creating some frustration not only among the Timorese people but also amongst ourselves. Things go slowly. The procurement side is complicated as well as all the coordination between the many agencies that are here.
/// END ACT ///
In addition to the non-governmental agencies working in support of the U-N mission, several countries including the United States have sent engineers from their armed forces to help in the rebuilding of schools, churches, and other public facilities.
One of the spokesmen for the U-S Support Group in East Timor, Army Lieutenant Eric Stallmer, says there are several obstacles right now getting in the way of progress.
/// STALLMER ACT ///
Getting supplies. Getting the funding to rebuild. Just who is going to pay for it and how are you going to get the supplies and the right supplies. Anytime you deal with a bureaucracy, you are going to run into snags.
/// END ACT ///
Despite the setbacks, U-N officials say there has been progress made in restoring such essential public services as schools. Ms. Reis says 200-thousand elementary and high school students in various parts of East Timor attended classes last week for the first time in a year.
/// OPEN UP FOR SOUND OF POLICE TRAINING EST. AND FADE UNDER ///
Near the Dili airport, the U-N-sponsored police academy is training cadets to be members of the first organized police force in the newly-independent country.
And U-N peacekeepers say they have been successful in securing Dili and most other parts of East Timor from militia incursions from West Timor. But the Ms. Reis admits the militias still pose a real threat.
/// SECOND REIS ACT ///
There are at this moment something like eight and 10 groups of militias infiltrated in the country. Peacekeeping forces are now trying not only to track them but to approach them and convince them to surrender.
/// END ACT ///
The Indonesian government is currently under intense international pressure to disarm the militias, but has so far either been unwilling or unable to do so. But the United Nations is also under pressure to show tangible results of its involvement in East Timor ahead of next year's scheduled elections.
U-N officials know that securing East Timor from militia attacks is key to getting the country back on its feet. What is less clear is how quickly they can make that happen. (SIGNED)
NEB/HK/AR/JO/RAE
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