9/9/09
A decade after East Timor broke away from Indonesia, prompting one of the most expensive UN-led nation-building initiatives ever, little of the billions spent on the country has contributed to its development, new research has found. According to figures compiled by the Associated Press, East Timor has received $8.8bn in aid and assistance, including peacekeeping, since 1999, but less than 10 per cent of that has made its way into the East Timorese economy. The total aid and assistance translates into about $8,000 for each of East Timor’s 1.1 million people, one of the highest rates of international aid per person. But little of the money, perhaps no more than a dollar of every 10, appears to have gone into East Timor’s economy.
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/09/20099823341388538.html
Tags: Human Rights, Timor