Joanna Jolly, Jakarta – The respect of East Timorese for the United Nations transitional administration's work is waning and it is in danger of being compared to the previous Indonesian colonial regime, observers said yesterday.
Francisco Guterres, legal adviser to the main political party, the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT), said the UN's inability to consult directly with the Timorese people might lead to a campaign of civil disobedience in the country.
"The UN is seen as selfish, working to their own agenda without consulting with the people of East Timor," Mr Guterres said in the East Timorese capital, Dili.
"If the community leaders keep complaining and the UN continues to refrain from allowing them to participate in the decision- making, we are afraid this will create civil disobedience against the UN in East Timor."
Mr Guterres, who was involved in setting up the meeting between East Timorese guerilla group Falintil and pro-Jakarta militia in Singapore last month, said that previously, the UN had been viewed as helping the East Timorese.
But over the past month, the UN had made decisions regarding the social and government structure of the new country without consulting CNRT leadership.
"We have discussed this and agreed that the UN administration is now working at a sub-district level without consultation with us. This has caused a lot of disappointment in East Timor," Mr Guterres said.
His comments follow the resignation on March 6 of a British UN official, Professor Jarat Chopra, from the UN mission. Professor Chopra said that he resigned out of frustration as he believed the UN was not setting a meaningful timetable for the transfer of power to the East Timorese.
In particular, Professor Chopra was disillusioned with negotiations regarding the World Bank-funded Community Empowerment Project (CEP), in which he said the UN was reluctant to delegate power directly to the community.
"There is no planned or methodical timetable for a handover. If the UN was serious they would set a clear date for independence and set milestones along the way," he said. "But none exist. Instead, there is vague talk about an election next year. "This is a typical UN exit strategy. The Timorese will have no more capacity built then, than they do now."
Professor Chopra blamed the lack of progress on ambitious officials in UN head Sergio Vieira de Mello's team who planned to come to East Timor for a short time, maintain control of the mission and ensure their chances of promotion within the UN.
Meanwhile yesterday the UN said more than 1,000 mostly anti- independence East Timorese had left camps in West Timor, raising hopes that many more will soon decide to go home.
The movement from the Tuapukan, Noelbaki and Naibonat camps was the biggest since aid agencies started returning refugees to the east in October, said Kris Janowski, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.