OK, a quick history of Timor Leste. The right half of the Pacific island of Timor was a Portuguese colony for some 400 years (think Prince-Henry-the-Navigator), until the Portuguese abruptly pulled out in 1975 (think Apocalypse Now). The resulting power vacuum resulted in political unpleasantness, which became real misery when the neighboring Indonesians invaded 9 days later and occupied the country rather than wait till the Timorese could get their shit together. Even as hostile occupations go, this was an ugly one -- conservative estimates put the Timorese body count at 180,000 over some 25 years. Not good. In 1999, Timorese resistance fighters and international pressure convinced the Indonesian government to put the future of Indonesia's "27th province" to a vote: Timor Leste would choose between autonomy within Indonesia, or independence without it. Three quarters of the country votes for independence.
This is when the real troubles began. After the vote, the UN moved to secure and administer the province immediately until a government could be established. In UN-speak, immediately means about three weeks to assemble a peacekeeping force. It was a very long three weeks.
After the vote, pro-Indonesian militias went on a rampage. Militias killed 1,400 people -- whole villages murdered -- and 200,000 people were displaced into West Timor. Within weeks militias knocked out the phone system and 90 percent of electrical grid was destroyed. In Dili, three quarters of all buildings were leveled. The economy contracted some 40% by the time the UN finally arrived in force, with Australian and Portuguese troops at the tip of the spear. Six years into independence, they're still here. Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps are everywhere -- muddy, crowded lots of big hoop tents with Rotary International logos on them.
The current lockdown, to answer the question, is in response to an assassination attempt a few weeks ago at the President's house, a conflict stemming from some pissed off Timorese soldiers that hadn't gotten paid on time for a few years and finally went rogue. The curfew is for show -- no one really thinks the guerrillas are still hanging out in town. The shooting was shocking to locals because it is so uncommon here -- every decent sized building in town has UN police or Portuguese national guard out front, complete overkill. They'd gotten rather used to Dili being one of the safest places in the world.
There's a lot of concern that justice be served, rather than just shipping more Aussie gunships in. But it's hard to really grasp how little infrastructure is here. But try this for a judicial system: The entire country, at last count, has 9 judges, 11 prosecutors, and 6 public defenders. Of those 11 prosecutors, three of them are still living in IDP camps.
Roads are crumbling and flooded. The local hospital has been overrun by an IDP camp -- pigs in the halls. Malaria and Dengue Fever are everywhere. Youth unemployment is estimated around 60% -- but no one really knows because no one's collecting statistics. Electrical power is still spotty -- we did our workshop prep by candlelight.
But -- I'll be damned -- I really like it here. I had an amazing two days here and I'm really, really sorry I couldn't stay for longer. More on that tomorrow with a full report on the workshop, which was a strong success. We fly to Darwin, then Brisbane early tomorrow.
