There is a great deal of good will and expectation awaiting the Transitional Administrator, Sergio Vieira de Mello, who has a brief window of opportunity to make things right. The kind of bickering and recrimination that the previously mentioned article describes needs to be nipped in the bud, and quickly, lest the UN and CNRT find it necessary to strike serious antagonistic positions, each in its own self-defense. Success in East Timor depends on it. Let me close with a few words on the process of reconstruction and development. East Timor cannot afford to suffer the best intentions of the international community.
Aid has to be timely, adequate and coordinated.
The World Bank-sponsored Joint Assessment Mission, which will report out its findings this week, is a promising start, and Bank staff are to be commended for initiating the process and involving the East Timorese at every step along the way. However, the JAM is a forward looking effort to assess needs for the medium to long term. It does not address the notorious gap between relief and development, nor has it stemmed the tide of individual donors and agencies conducting their own assessments and undertaking their own activities. The Norwegians, Swedes and Canadians had already been through. Coordinated aid structures need to be urgently established in East Timor and at UN headquarters to make certain that essential recovery needs are met and that the development of East Timor begins on the right foot and proceeds effectively.