Tough Challenges Ahead for Timor Leste

According to the chief of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, East Timor faced a tough task recovering after bloody violence last month had left confidence in the state shattered damaging the economy.

The May unrest in which at least 21 people died was the worst to hit East Timor since it voted for independence in 1999 when pro-Indonesian militias killed about 1400 people. Many houses once again had been burnt and thousands of people forced to flee their homes but confidence in the institutions of the state including the police and the armed forces had been badly shaken.

According to an article in the Herald Sun Mr Wolfowitz said the Timor Leste faces a difficult path and noted that at least 65,000 people were displaced in Dili and a further 78,000 had fled for the districts after gang warfare rocked the capital's streets. Mr Wolfowitz who visited the mainly Catholic nation in April added that East Timor’s recovery depended largely on its leaders.

Mr Wolfowitz's comments came after President Xanana Gusmao told Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri to resign or face being fired. The President took action after seeing a television documentary which purported to show evidence of the premier's involvement in arming hit squads to assassinate his opponents. The World Bank chief said the international community needed to tailor their assistance programs to the new situation.

There is enough money being poured into the country and it seems as though it will be case of second time lucky for Timor Leste to become a prosperous country. But when is anybody's guess and how long it will take is the same guess.