East Timorese independence leader and president-in-waiting Xanana Gusmao has launched a stinging attack on the United Nations body responsible for administering the newly-independent territory, claiming the body is "acting like kings" and ignoring the wishes of the people.
In an interview with the Taipei Times held in Dili this week, Gusmao also criticized the scores of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that have flooded into the territory to help it rebuild, claiming they have requested US$200 million from the World Bank without consulting with Timorese leaders.
"In 10 to 15 years we will have to pay what we owe. We will be in debt," Gusmao said .... We know we are in a bad situation but we are not so naive as to accept this money."
PHOTO: AP
But Gusmao, who returned to East Timor for the first time in eight years last month after being released from a Jakarta jail, saved his strongest words for the Indonesian military and, in particular, the UN -- the two groups he blames for the destruction of East Timor following the Aug. 30 ballot on independence from Indonesia.
He said that the UN must take responsibility for allowing Indonesia to control security during the ballot, a move he says that allowed the armed forces to be seen in the international community as a peacekeeper, with the reality being that they were trying to incite a civil war on the ground.
With the Indonesian threat now gone, he said his people have now been occupied by a new colonizer -- the UN transitional administration in East Timor (UNTAET), the body responsible for the territory until a democratically elected government is put in place.
Referring specifically to Rwanda, and ignoring the advice of his political advisor not to talk on the issue, Gusmao told the Taipei Times that the UN caused problems wherever they went, and it was his hope that they would be out of the country within two years.
"We have no power, no legitimacy to do anything," he said, adding: "I don't want to cause friction but we don't feel comfortable with some people acting like kings of East Timor, coming here to impose their models."
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