Australian city cleans up from the crisis in E. Timor<\/p>\n
By Kurt Schork<\/p>\n
DARWIN, Australia (Reuters): War is hell. But the peace that
\nfollows can be damned profitable.<\/p>\n
Just ask the northern Australian port of Darwin -- current
\njumping-off point for the U.N. intervention force in East Timor.
\nSoldiers, aid workers, international bureaucrats and journalists
\nfrom around the world are streaming through this city en route to
\nDili, East Timor's devastated capital.<\/p>\n
Catering to the needs of these masters of disaster is big
\nbusiness. Darwin, a city of about 85,000 people, is taking the
\ninvasion in stride.<\/p>\n
Laid back, friendly residents simply shake their heads at the
\nantics of some passers-through.<\/p>\n
\"The rains are just about to start and this is the end of the
\ntourist season. But things have stayed very busy on account of
\nTimor,\" explained Rob, a taxi driver.<\/p>\n
\"A man from the United Nations hired me instead of a rental
\ncar for two days because he couldn't drive. All we did was go
\nfrom shop to shop in the city while he bought things to take to
\nEast Timor.<\/p>\n
\"His kit filled the car when I finally took him out to the
\nRAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) base for the flight.\"<\/p>\n
Hotel rooms are in short supply, especially at the top end of
\nthe market, and restaurants and bars remain crowded. Shops
\nselling camping gear can't possibly meet demand.<\/p>\n
\"We've had aid groups come in and spend A$7,000 (US$4,550) or
\nA$8,000 in an hour on basic items like backpacks, mosquito nets,
\ncamp stoves, water pumps and purification tablets for their
\npeople headed into Timor,\" explained John Bennett of the N.T.
\nTrading Post in Darwin.<\/p>\n
\"We're not computerized so I couldn't tell you exactly how
\nmuch extra business we've done, but it's considerable. We're busy
\nfrom the moment we open until we shut up shop and this is
\nnormally a pretty slow time of year for us.\"<\/p>\n
One de rigueur item for East Timor's scorching tropical
\nclimate is the hydration pack: a small backpack with a bladder
\nbig enough to hold several liters of water and a plastic tube
\nthat makes it possible to drink while keeping one's hands free.<\/p>\n
Darwin retailers can't get enough of them. Photographers,
\ncameramen and soldiers find the hydration pack functional.
\nOthers seem to view it as an obligatory fashion accessory. One
\naid worker was overheard placing an order for a hydration pack in
\nfuchsia so that it would match her sunglasses.<\/p>\n
Pro-Jakarta militia groups destroyed or stole virtually
\neverything of value in East Timor after residents there voted in
\nfavor of independence in an August 30 referendum.<\/p>\n
Food, water and shelter are obvious problems, but the lack of
\nreliable ground transportation is another major constraint for
\nvirtually everyone operating in East Timor other than the U.N.
\nintervention army, known as Interfet.<\/p>\n
As a result, the demand for new and used four-wheel drive
\nvehicles and the gear that goes with them -- jerry cans for fuel
\nand water, winches, jumper cables, spare tyres, hi-lift jacks and
\nthe like -- is insatiable in Darwin.<\/p>\n
\"Timor has had a real impact on our business,\" said Allen
\nCarter, proprietor of New State Motors in Darwin.<\/p>\n
\"Prices have gone up at the auction where dealers buy used
\nvehicles. It is a real seller's market in terms of four-wheel
\ndrive vehicles.\"<\/p>\n
So much a seller's market that one reporter looking at used
\nvehicles at the weekend had a dealer trying to peddle him a year-
\nold truck with substantial mileage for A$2,000 more than he could
\nbuy the same vehicle new across the street.<\/p>\n
Giant Hercules C-130 aircraft ferry people and some emergency
\ncargo from Darwin to Dili, but most vehicles and bulk stores go
\nby ship.<\/p>\n
\"We've had seven or eight weeks of strong business dealing
\nwith clients like the U.S. Army, the United Nations, various aid
\nagencies and new organizations,\" explained Ray Miller of Perkins
\nShipping in Darwin.<\/p>\n
\"We sent some U.S. Army vehicles over that were valued at A$1
\nmillion each. They told us they were for surveillance and had all
\nkinds of communications gear in them. 'Don't drop them and don't
\ntry to look inside' was the bottom line.\"<\/p>\n
Perkins now runs a weekly shuttle of containerized commercial
\ncargo back and forth between Darwin and Dili and is starting up
\nanother shuttle between Singapore -- where it expects a lot of
\nbulk food shipments to originate -- and Dili.\"<\/p>\n
Nearly 500 businessmen gathered in the Australian capital,
\nCanberra, this week to learn more about the opportunities
\nassociated with East Timor's long-term physical and political
\nreconstruction now Indonesia has agreed to its independence.<\/p>\n
They heard that hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts
\nwill be let by international agencies. Meeting the food and
\nshelter needs of hundreds of thousands of East Timorese is a
\nproject that will take years, not months.<\/p>\n
Darwin -- closer to Singapore than it is to Sydney -- hopes to
\ncapitalize on its proximity to East Timor.<\/p>\n
And of course peacekeepers, aid workers, administrators and
\nhacks will come to work in East Timor in their thousands,
\ndemanding the creature comforts Darwin hopes to supply.<\/p>\n
Already some Darwin entrepreneurs have shipped 3,000 cans of
\nbeer and a refrigerator to Dili in a Perkins container.<\/p>\n
The cans began selling briskly at A$5 a piece. A few nights
\nlater another Australian opened up a place offering beer at less
\nthan half that price -- a development interpreted by Dili's
\ngrowing expatriate community as a sure sign the city is getting
\nback on its feet.<\/p>",
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