Geoffrey Barker – There are three forms of land title in East Timor, reflecting the country's long history of foreign occupation.

Some land, notably rural land, is held under customary communal title. During 450 years of Portuguese rule, 2,709 parcels of land were given to the colonial elites. During Indonesia's 24-year rule, some 44,000 land parcels were handed out.

Among the crimes committed by the Indonesian military and its proxies as they fled and wrecked East Timor in 1999 was the destruction or theft of many land records. Nobody is sure who owns what. Disputes are increasing as different people claim traditional, Portuguese or Indonesian title over the same land.

To further complicate matters, there is much illegal occupation of land and much wrecked and abandoned property.

The East Timorese government has decided that foreigners will not be allowed to own land in the new nation.

It has yet to decide what sort of land rights to give to foreign investors who require security of tenure before making the sort of capital investment that will start effective economic development.

Most observers of the legal system regard stability of land title and land law as the major civil legal issue for the new government to come to terms with.

Decisions about title recognition, land registration and land conflict resolution procedures still have to be made.

But in a country where the Portuguese and Indonesian colonialists in turn acquired land through threats, intimidation or unfair compensation payments, land law and land justice still seem far away.