UN will pull out of E. Timor in 2002

UN will pull out of E. Timor in 2002

DILI, East Timor (Agencies): The United Nations will pull out
of East Timor in 2002, a top official said on Monday, allaying
concerns the fledgling nation may not be ready for independence.

"UNTAET (UN Transitional Administration in East Timor) will
not be running the show in 2002, a newly-elected Timorese
government will be, with a limited internal capacity," United
Nations Development Program head Mark Malloch Brown said.

But Malloch Brown, the third-highest ranking UN official,
urged East Timor's political leaders to agree on a set of
national priorities to ensure the half-island territory has a
soft economic landing when the bulk of the UN mission leaves.

"There will be a big bump created by the withdrawal of some
components of UNTAET so there will be some possibility of a
downturn in the Dili economy."

In the short term, he said 50 percent of East Timor's GDP
would be generated from foreign aid.

East Timor and its economy was left in tatters following a
rampage by pro-Indonesian militias, triggered by an overwhelming
vote for independence from Indonesia in a UN-brokered ballot in
August 1999.

The UN estimates at least 1,000 people were killed in the
violence and nearly one third of the 800,000-strong population
herded across the border into refugee camps in Indonesian West
Timor.

During a visit to Jakarta last Friday, Malloch Brown said East
Timor's economy had struggled to get back on its feet after the
destruction, largely because foreign aid was not flowing fast
enough.

International donors in December 1999 agreed to provide the
ravaged territory $520 million but Malloch Brown said only $136
million had been disbursed so far.

"It comes back to the donors because they just didn't give the
money to the organizations charged with the medium-term
rehabilitation," he told Reuters in Jakarta.

He also called on East Timor's UN administrators to focus on
developing the skills of local civil servants amid fears that
there may be a vacuum of experienced officials when the world
body pulls out.

Malloch Brown said the transitional administration should
speed up the training of local officials.

"It has to be driven through the whole international
establishment that their absolute priority is to ensure their own
redundancy," he said at the end of a three-day visit to East
Timor.

Neither Indonesia nor Portugal, which ruled East Timor for
four centuries, significantly trained or educated East Timor's
800,000 population. This lead to an acute shortage of East
Timorese with professional skills.

The tiny half-island territory is one of the world's poorest
regions with half the population living on less than one dollar a
day.

The United Nations took over the task of administrating East
Timor after the population overwhelmingly voted for independence
from Indonesia in August 1999.