Poor countries should spend less money on weapons and seek to resolve their internal differences or differences with their neighbours via dialogue, says East Timor's President Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao.

The monies saved from weapons and huge standing armies should go to education and health care for the poorest of our societies, he said.

"The weapons-producing countries must redouble their efforts to curtail weapons exports to the developing world and in particular to regions in conflict," President Gusmao said. "We do not wish to oversimplify the root causes of the many conflicts plaguing our regions, but the facts are that the weapons exacerbate these conflicts and export weapons business thrives when peoples are at war with each other. If it is morally repulsive the business of drug smuggling that kills so many in the rich countries, why there is such a blaze attitude towards the equally repugnant business of weapons exports that kills and maims so many in the developing world? Would it be because the millions killed, maimed, blown off by land mines, are peoples of darker skin?"

In East Timor, government was spending almost 30 per cent of its national budget on education and public health. He said this figure would go up in the next few years while the defence budget would consume less than one per cent of the budget.

"We are embarking on a national sustainable development strategy that resulted from a wide consultation process involving the government, civil society and the donor community. This is a pro-poor strategy aiming at eradicating poverty in two generations," President Gusmao said. "We believe that the best ways to insure peace and security in our country is through a sustained effort in national dialogue and reconciliation to heal the wounds of the past, eliminate violence for our daily lives, promote a culture of peace and non-violence, promote respect for human rights and the rule of law."

"We are less than two months old as an independent state and we are conscious that the road ahead is going to be a very bumpy one in all aspects. We have a functioning parliament with 12 political parties and an almost 30 per cent women representation. However, our parliament and the political parties are incipient, lack experience and resources and a true culture of democracy." An independent judiciary was one of the necessary foundations of democracy and rule of law, he added.

[Source: Fijilive web site, Suva, in English July 20, 2002.]