Adriano Almeida da Carmo owns the most popular restaurant in the mountain town of Ainaro, in central west East Timor. There is little to recommend it. Chair legs slip through the cracks of the homemade bamboo floor where customers perch precariously, the food is poor, the beer is warm, and, when night falls, the restaurant is plunged into pitch black.
Electricity is a luxury da Carmo, 35, cannot yet afford. But his customers, mostly UN and foreign aid workers, come nonetheless. They have no choice. Da Carmo's restaurant, which opened in June, is the only one in town.
"Welcome to independent East Timor," da Carmo tells all of his new customers. "We have nothing, but soon we can have everything."
It is a clarion call now ringing throughout this devastated land, where last year on Aug. 30 the independence vote that ended 24-years of Jakarta rule sent Indonesian military and their militia sidekicks on a rampage of violence and destruction. Hundreds, maybe thousands were killed, in the ensuing fortnight of mayhem, entire towns and villages were razed, and the civil service and all functions of government completely collapsed.
It was assumed that the UN mission that stepped in to administer the territory last year with the sweeping mandate to rebuild the country from scratch, and prepare it for self-government would be here for at least three years.
On arrival in East Timor in November, one senior UN official, staggered by the scale of destruction and the magnitude of the task before the UN, said in private that the mission may have to be extended.
But times have changed.
A little over a year on from the turmoil, UN administrators have announced that they are preparing to handover the reigns of power to Timorese leaders possibly as soon as the middle of next year.
According to the new handover timetable, East Timor could become the first new nation of the 21st century by January 2002. The reasoning behind the change of plan is simple, says Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Brazilian diplomat who established the UN presence in Kosovo and now leads the United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET).
"They [Timorese leaders] have gained a taste for leadership and are impatient for it," he said, during a recent interview in Dili.
"Let's face it, after being under colonial and Indonesian rule for so long, I can understand why they are now in a hurry."
On the surface, the rebuilding of East Timor appears on track. The enormous task of putting a roof over the heads of at least 500,000 people is moving ahead at full speed as the nation embarks on a building frenzy. Stockpiles of timber and galvanized steel can be seen in every town and village, and the thud of nails driven into wood echoes throughout the countryside. In many areas power has been restored, roads are being repaired, and the telecommunications system is once again operational. Most encouraging of all, farmers the backbone of East Timor's market economy, have returned to the fields. And in devastated towns such as Ainaro, the markets are again open for business and a sprinkling of entrepreneurial Timorese with big ambitions but little capital like da Carmo are stepping into the void left by the departed Indonesian businessmen.
But to physically rebuild a country upon the ashes of the old is one thing, transforming it into a democratic state with all the trappings of government in place is another. As de Mello himself is quick to point out, following the Aug. 30 vote the hasty departure of thousands of Indonesians who virtually ran the local government, educational systems, justice system and the territory's commercial life has left the country devoid of any infrastructure. Rebuilding these institutions from the ground up is an overwhelming proposition and critics of the new handover timetable suggest de Mello's plan to fast track the road to nationhood and self-rule will lead to trouble. At the heart of the criticism is his decision in April to bow to the demands of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) a coalition of pro-independence parties, led by former resistance leader Xanana Gusmao and allow them a greater decision-making role in government. The new political structure has led to the creation of an executive cabinet that answers to de Mello, and whose top positions CNRT officials occupy.
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