UN has 'failed to set up democracy' in E. Timor

UN has 'failed to set up democracy' in E. Timor

DILI, East Timor (AP): Opposition leaders in East Timor on Thursday criticized the United Nations for pursuing a policy of "overnight decolonization" and not creating the framework for a democratic society in their fledgling nation.

Fernando de Araujo, who heads the Democratic Party, accused the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor of siding with Fretilin, the pro-independence party that won elections last month for the assembly which will draft the new constitution.

UNTAET has been running the country since 1999, when an overwhelming majority of East Timorese opted for independence from Indonesia, which had occupied the former Portuguese colony in 1975.

Fretilin - the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor - garnered 57 percent of the vote and secured 55 seats in the 88-member assembly that will steer the territory to independence next year.

"We are worried that the United Nations is offering everything to Fretilin without consulting the other parties that won seats," said de Araujo, whose own party came in second with seven seats in the assembly.

De Araujo's criticism of the world body was echoed by other party leaders and political analysts. They voiced concerns that the United Nations would allow Fretilin to dominate the assembly and draw up a constitution without consulting with all segments of society.

"The main aim and purpose of UNTAET was not to hold a single election and then withdraw quickly - it is resembling more and more an overnight decolonization," said Lucas De Costa, who heads the Higher Institute for Economics and Management.

"UNTAET is about to leave behind a political culture as undemocratic as the workings of the United Nations itself," da Costa said.