No fanfare as East Timor joins UN

No fanfare as East Timor joins UN

Agencies, Dili/United Nations

East Timor becomes the 191st member of the United Nations on
Friday, an historic day for the world's newest nation after a
bloody transition from Indonesian rule, but East Timorese
complain it will pass virtually unnoticed in their own land. No
flag-raising ceremony or traditional Timorese dancing or drum
beating has been planned in the capital Dili or the outer reaches
of the half island territory which has been under UN
administration for more than three years.

It joins the United Nations just weeks after Switzerland,
which was voted in on Sept. 10 after the Swiss people voted to
seek membership in a March referendum.

Ordinary East Timorese expressed their dismay at the lack of
fuss over the event and at the apparent apathy of political
leaders.

"I am extremely disappointed with the government -- they have
not been transparent in declaring or publicizing it. I only heard
about it from the radio and newspapers," said 55 year-old Gabriel
da Costa.

"We, the East Timorese, are proud of this day and I think it
deserves a celebration," he added.

Also dissatisfied, 30-year-old Antonio Rangel said: I'm really
happy to hear East Timor finally becoming a member of the United
Nations but I am awfully disappointed with the government as
there is no ceremony to celebrate this big day."

The first act of East Timor's 88-member parliament after it
was elected in April was to sign the UN Universal Declaration of
Human rights and apply to join the United Nations.

The nation of 760,000 people is Asia's most impoverished, and
the 20th poorest in the world.

"To most Timorese, UN membership is not a big deal at all. It
was on the front page of both major newspapers today but no one
is really talking about it," said the official, who did not wish
to be named.

"But the East Timorese leadership is taking this very
seriously and has sent a very senior delegation to New York."

President Xanana Gusmao, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and
Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta were due to attend the ceremony
at the United Nations.

Gusmao was due to address the UN General Assembly after the
formal vote is taken to admit its latest member. Later in the
day, East Timor's flag will be raised at a ceremony in front of
UN headquarters.

Meanwhile, East Timor's president said he would not advise
other regions to use armed struggles as their route to
independence.

"I will tell them to try everything to achieve a peaceful
solution. We tried, we didn't only fight," East Timor's former
resistance leader and new president, Gusmao, said in an interview
with The Associated Press on Thursday in New York.

Separatists in Indonesia's westernmost Aceh province as well
as Papua province and the Maluku islands are struggling to follow
in East Timor's footsteps.

"It is difficult to have a military solution, they must do
their best to achieve a peaceful solution. A peaceful solution
can forge mutual respect and understanding," he said.

Ramos-Horta, said during a public briefing a day earlier that
no government in East Timor would be "adventurous enough to offer
support for independence for Papua or Aceh."

Ramos-Horta advised the provinces to accept autonomy as a step
toward their goals, adding that Indonesia should also decline
from using force against them.

Gusmao stressed that ties with Indonesia, which exports almost
80 percent of East Timor's supplies, were important to his
desperately poor country.

"We cannot forget that even though we have Australia as a
close neighbor, the closest is Indonesia. We have to respect the
processes in Indonesia," he said.