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E Timor 'poor and getting poorer'
East Timor remains the poorest country in South East Asia nearly four years after independence, the UN says - and it is getting poorer.
The UNDP report says there are few employment prospects in East Timor in anything other than agriculture.
About 40% of the population live below the poverty line and education and health care remain patchy.
East Timor was ruled by Indonesia for nearly 24 years before a United Nations-sponsored referendum in 1999.
Some 90 babies in 1,000 do not live to see their first birthday and few are immunised, according to the UN report.
Half of the population of less than one million has no access to safe drinking water, and job opportunities are few.
One major factor which could change things is the signing last January of an oil-sharing agreement with Australia, says the BBC's Developing World correspondent David Loyn.
Disputes between the two countries had soured relations in recent years, but now East Timor should be able to benefit from oil revenues.
The UNDP report says it is crucial that these funds go towards alleviating rural poverty - the first major boost to the economy since the bitter war with Indonesia.
The UN administered East Timor for two years before it gained independence in 2002. UN peacekeeping missions remained in the former Portuguese colony until last May when their post-war mandate ran out.
Their withdrawal had a big effect on jobs in the capital, Dili.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4788316.stm
East Timor remains the poorest country in South East Asia nearly four years after independence, the UN says - and it is getting poorer.
The UNDP report says there are few employment prospects in East Timor in anything other than agriculture.
About 40% of the population live below the poverty line and education and health care remain patchy.
East Timor was ruled by Indonesia for nearly 24 years before a United Nations-sponsored referendum in 1999.
Some 90 babies in 1,000 do not live to see their first birthday and few are immunised, according to the UN report.
Half of the population of less than one million has no access to safe drinking water, and job opportunities are few.
One major factor which could change things is the signing last January of an oil-sharing agreement with Australia, says the BBC's Developing World correspondent David Loyn.
Disputes between the two countries had soured relations in recent years, but now East Timor should be able to benefit from oil revenues.
The UNDP report says it is crucial that these funds go towards alleviating rural poverty - the first major boost to the economy since the bitter war with Indonesia.
The UN administered East Timor for two years before it gained independence in 2002. UN peacekeeping missions remained in the former Portuguese colony until last May when their post-war mandate ran out.
Their withdrawal had a big effect on jobs in the capital, Dili.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4788316.stm
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Destitution in the world's youngest country
Mar 9th 2006
From The Economist print edition
LIFE has only become more wretched for the 1m inhabitants of Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) since it achieved full independence from Indonesia in 2002. The country was born the poorest in South-East Asia: and its economy has shrivelled further as the United Nations' peacekeeping operations have wound down, reducing demand for everything from hotel rooms to transport. It is set to shrink yet further after the mandate of UNOTIL, the UN office in the country, expires in May.
The pity is that the country can afford to do much better. A report published this week by the UN Development Programme shows that revenues from offshore oil and gas fields could reduce poverty dramatically—if the government spent the revenue wisely.
The UNDP sets the poverty line for Timor-Leste at 55 American cents a day. Around 40% of the population has less than this, so hunger is widespread. Only half of rural households have drinking-water on tap, and only a tenth have electricity. With health clinics few and far between, almost one in ten babies die before their first birthday.
Timor-Leste's population is small, at about 1m people. So relieving the worst of the poverty should, in theory, be cheap. The UNDP calculates that it would cost $18m a year for everyone below the 55-cent poverty line to be brought up to it. Even achieving the UN's Millennium Goals for relieving want (including better education and health) by 2015 would cost Timor-Leste $203m a year at most. This, too, should be affordable given the aid on offer and the growing oil and gas income. The country receives energy revenues of around $158m a year, and their sustainability has been underpinned by a recent deal with Australia to divide the proceeds from a big gas field in the sea between the two countries.
However, the government has so far spent most of its money in Dili, the capital. Only about a fifth of state-provided goods and services go to rural areas, where most people live and where poverty is concentrated. People in the rural areas urgently need micro-credit and training to improve and diversify their crops, as well as better sanitation and roads. Unless this changes, the Timorese will remain, as the UNDP puts it, politically free but chained by poverty.
Mar 9th 2006
From The Economist print edition
LIFE has only become more wretched for the 1m inhabitants of Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) since it achieved full independence from Indonesia in 2002. The country was born the poorest in South-East Asia: and its economy has shrivelled further as the United Nations' peacekeeping operations have wound down, reducing demand for everything from hotel rooms to transport. It is set to shrink yet further after the mandate of UNOTIL, the UN office in the country, expires in May.
The pity is that the country can afford to do much better. A report published this week by the UN Development Programme shows that revenues from offshore oil and gas fields could reduce poverty dramatically—if the government spent the revenue wisely.
The UNDP sets the poverty line for Timor-Leste at 55 American cents a day. Around 40% of the population has less than this, so hunger is widespread. Only half of rural households have drinking-water on tap, and only a tenth have electricity. With health clinics few and far between, almost one in ten babies die before their first birthday.
Timor-Leste's population is small, at about 1m people. So relieving the worst of the poverty should, in theory, be cheap. The UNDP calculates that it would cost $18m a year for everyone below the 55-cent poverty line to be brought up to it. Even achieving the UN's Millennium Goals for relieving want (including better education and health) by 2015 would cost Timor-Leste $203m a year at most. This, too, should be affordable given the aid on offer and the growing oil and gas income. The country receives energy revenues of around $158m a year, and their sustainability has been underpinned by a recent deal with Australia to divide the proceeds from a big gas field in the sea between the two countries.
However, the government has so far spent most of its money in Dili, the capital. Only about a fifth of state-provided goods and services go to rural areas, where most people live and where poverty is concentrated. People in the rural areas urgently need micro-credit and training to improve and diversify their crops, as well as better sanitation and roads. Unless this changes, the Timorese will remain, as the UNDP puts it, politically free but chained by poverty.
READ THE COMPLETE UNDP REPORT ON EAST TIMOR
I happened to watch the doumentary movie about the poor condition in Timor Leste and I cried along its 30 minutes. And the families who had to split between indonesia and timor leste, they just can see each other 1 hour a week at borderline and they cried and cried in the occassion, they can't even cross the line to give closer hugs 
The weather is dry and hot. Really unpleasant and surely will burn your skin. 
