Donors told to meet E. Timor promises

Donors told to meet E. Timor promises

CANBERRA (Reuters): The World Bank called on the international
community on Wednesday to meet promises of aid to impoverished
East Timor as it struggles to rebuild for future independence
after being laid to waste by Indonesian militias.

Donors from around the world pledged US$523 million in aid
after pro-Jakarta mobs went on the rampage, killing up to 1,000
people and devastating towns, following a vote for independence
from Indonesia in August 1999.

Most of the money, which will be spent rebuilding roads,
hospitals and schools, was expected to arrive by late June.

But the World Bank is now concerned that donor nations may
drag their heels over the remainder as the East Timor crisis
recedes further from world attention.

"Now we must target the remaining pledges that still need to
materialize," the World Bank's director in East Asia and the
Pacific, Klaus Rohland, told Reuters on the eve of a two-day
conference of East Timor donors in Canberra.

"We hope (the donations) come up over the next six to eight
months because we want to make sure at the time of independence,
we've left the country with a set of programs that provide a
sound basis for future economic and social development."

The former Portuguese colony, which suffered 23 years of often
brutal Jakarta rule before its UN-run referendum, is one of the
world's poorest territories. It has high unemployment, a dearth
of skilled personnel and an army of homeless.

Coffee is the only cash crop produced by the UN-run nation-in-
the making.

The country is currently locked in talks with Australia over
splitting petroleum revenues from a disputed oil and gas area of
the Timor Sea with a deal expected by the year end.

The revenues were to be split with Indonesia before the
independence vote. A new agreement, which could give East Timor
up to 85 percent of funds, would give East Timor significant
resources by 2005, officials say.

"That means that East Timor will be able to stand on its own
two feet," UN development coordinator Finn Reske-Nielsen said.

For the moment, however, Reske-Nielsen said East Timor was
still a developing country and continued international help was
absolutely necessary.

"There is a danger that East Timor could drop off the
radar ... with many demands on donors with many crises around the
world. But East Timor ... is a special case because their country
was literally burned to the ground," Reske-Nielsen said.

"Once an item is off the agenda there is a tendency by member
states to become a bit lazy in coming through with the funds," a
UN spokeswoman told Reuters.

UN workers hoped that the donors' conference in Canberra --
the fourth such meeting in two years -- would refresh commitment
to East Timor as it prepares for independence in 2002.

East Timor goes to the polls on August 30 for its first
democratic elections.

The list of donors contributing to a World Bank-administered
Trust Fund for East Timor (TFET) are the United States,
Australia, Japan, Portugal, Norway, Britain, Ireland, Finland,
New Zealand, and the European Commission.