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Trappings of state
When the UN left East Timor, violence broke out. Its nation-building had created merely a facade by Linda Polman The world's newest state is balanced on a knife edge. Only months after UN troops wrapped up their nation-building mission in East Timor, President Xanana Gusmao has imposed emergency rule, and an Australian-led peacekeeping force of more than 2,000 has been flown in. Peace talks in Dili are welcome, but they are taking place against a backdrop of continued violence, with fighting raging on between government forces and their mutinous colleagues. A coup remains a real threat. The outbreak of violence should come as no surprise - UN forces have left East Timor. In the absence of external military stabilisation, most countries emerging from violence will return to it within a few years, no matter what economic aid, advice and other forms of support they receive. Despite this, the order to nation-builders from their financiers, the UN member states, is to make the missions as short, cheap and small as they can, whatever the context. Posted by: Steve White 2006-05-31 |
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