East Timor's shaky foundations need long-term support

Australian armoured vehicles patrol the streets of East Timor's capital, Dili, amid the burned-out shells of houses and food warehouses looted by marauding gangs, who for weeks have laid waste to neighbourhoods and forced tens of thousands of terrified civilians into refugee camps. What was lauded as the United Nations success story in nation-building has become a lawless territory.

But what has caused East Timor to disintegrate and what hope is there for this tiny country's future?

'I think a big mistake made by the Australians and the UN was not recognising how far East Timor had to go,' said nation-building expert Seth Jones, of the Rand Corporation, a US think-tank.

When the interim administration, the UN Transitional Administration for East Timor, left in 2002 after elections were held, it was replaced by the UN Mission of Support in East Timor. The UN and Australian presence was gradually wound down.

East Timor's Foreign Minister and recently appointed Defence Minister Jose Ramos Horta said yesterday that UN involvement with East Timor should last for at least a decade from 2002, and that if the international community believed in nation-building then there could be no cost-cutting.

But so far, the UN has only committed for a further two years during which the organisation will provide an international police force. UN envoy to East Timor Ian Martin spoke to both East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao and embattled Prime Minister Mari Alkitiri in Dili last week before flying to New York to brief the UN.