Also: East Timor: Gusmao Tells Donors of Money Ill Spent, Delays, Divisions

Timorese leader Gusmao criticizes use of aid funds BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 29, 2001

Source: RDP Antena 1 radio, Lisbon, in Portuguese 1200 gmt 29 Mar 01

[Presenter] Xanana Gusmao [president of the National Council of the Timorese Resistance] said today that the money given to East Timor is not being used well. In addition there is lack of help, delays in several sectors and divisions among circles of Timorese society. Xanana Gusmao was speaking at a meeting in Dili of representatives of the 15 donor countries. Antonio Veladas reports:

[Reporter] After his resignation yesterday from the Timorese National Council, today Xanana opened the donors' conference by criticizing the transitional government's use of funds. This was an internal message. An ironic Xanana Gusmao told the donors' representatives that if ministers in Sergio Vieira de Mello's [head of UNTAET, UN Transitional Administration in East Timor] government left the country less often and visited the districts in the interior of East Timor instead, listening to the people's complaints and aspirations, then the level of trust would be different. Xanana said that the people would feel the funds were being used properly. To support this criticism, Xanana spoke of the existence of 686,000 dollars which needed to be used by June. Xanana noted there was little visible fruit from the over 100bn escudos already spent...

Sergio Vieira de Mello told RDP [Portuguese state radio] this afternoon that Xanana Gusmao's resignation was accepted because it was felt he would be more useful outside parliament rather than inside. Mello believes Gusmao is stronger outside the political system to continue exercising his influence among the people, reassuring them and answering their questions.

Source: RDP Antena 1 radio, Lisbon, in Portuguese 1200 gmt 29 Mar 01

East Timor: Gusmao Tells Donors of Money Ill Spent, Delays, Divisions 29 Mar-12:40

East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao painted a negative image of the territory's independence transition process Thursday, telling a conference of international donors of money ill spent, delays in implementing projects and divisions within the island society.

Gusmao urged the conference participants not to be "overly impressed" with the hustle and bustle of Dili, the capital. He stressed that "in the interior the economic situation of the population has not changed much" since the wave of Indonesian- instigated violence in 1999.

Gusmao, who resigned as president of the transitional legislature Wednesday, also confirmed that the leadership umbrella organization he heads, the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT), would be dissolved on June 1.

The CNRT must end, he said, to allow "greater participation of society and, above all, of the political forces which will compete for power" in upcoming elections.

He told the representatives of 15 donor nations and the European Union that he had long been critical of "the slowness in the implementation of programs" and called attention to reports that "not all donated funds have been well spent or in timely fashion".

Gusmao expressed confidence in "political stability" and the "maturity" of the territory's political leaders but asked that special attention be paid to mounting "social instability".

He also urged "a strong program of assistance" for his former Falintil guerrillas, who battled Indonesia rule for a quarter century.

The day-long interim meeting of donor countries, which the World Bank and IMF attend as observers, was called to assess progress before their regular semester meeting, set for Canberra, Australia, in June.

SAS -Lusa-

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