New York – East Timor's fragile peace will only hold if the international community continues to provide assistance and not abandon the country, said the fledgling nation's foreign minister.

East Timor, which gained independence from Indonesia through a United Nations-backed referendum in 1999, is desperately poor and heavily dependent on foreign aid.

On Friday, the UN General Assembly is to admit East Timor as the 191st member state. "Peace in our country is a reality, but it is fragile. If the donor community abandons the country now it could unravel," said Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timor's foreign minister, speaking at a public discussion Wednesday about the challenges faced by his country.

Ramos-Horta said that more than 45% of East Timor's 850,000 people were desperately poor and more than 50% of the population was below 20 years old, and in need of education and jobs. He identified the setting up of a legal system right down to prisons as critical to his country's progress.

"If we don't address the issue of the judiciary then the whole issue of law and order will be at stake," he said, adding that offers to bolster the country's meager supply of 20 lawyers would be welcomed.

Despite bitter relations in the past, an independent East Timor has continued to foster ties with Indonesia. East Timor's large neighbor invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975, and ruled it with an iron hand until 1999, when a UN-sponsored referendum resulted in a vote for independence.

The plebiscite was followed by an orgy of violence when Indonesia-backed militias slaughtered hundreds and burnt down large parts of the capital – Dili – before an international peacekeeping force restored order. The United Nations took control of East Timor's administration as it began reconstruction, until the nation achieved full independence on May 20.

Ramos-Horta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his work to keep world attention on East Timor's plight, appealed to the donor community not to forget his country as new conflicts command world attention.

"East Timor could be dumped by the media and the donor community, that would be tragic because it would undo and undermine all the commitments, all the resources that were put into East Timor in the last few years," he said.