[stop-imf] Alert: Keep East Timor out of IMF/WB clutches!]

[Robert Weissman]

from East Timor Action Network

The World's Newest Country Must Remain Debt-Free!
East Timor's May 20 Independence Threatened by Donors' 
Economic Chains

Act NOW to Support Real, People-Centered Development

On May 20, East Timor will celebrate its first 
Independence Day. But the jubilation may be short-lived. A 
lack of funds could stand in the way of East Timor's 
commitment to use future revenues to secure healthcare and 
education for its people rather than to service a debt to 
wealthy states 
and financial institutions. The East Timorese government 
has joined with civil society in making poverty 
alleviation its highest priority. Top officials have 
publicly affirmed their determination to avoid the debt 
trap faced by so many countries in the Global South, and a 
"no loans" policy has been put into place. 

The challenge is that the nascent government faces an 
estimated US $154-$184 million shortfall in its already 
lean budget for the first three years of independence. 
Compared to the US military budget, this sum is peanuts; 
the U.S. pays more for one F-22 fighter plane. But for 
East Timor, it could represent the difference between 
"life and debt."  Activists have a unique chance to take 
preemptive action - to prevent the stranglehold of 
structural adjustment, loans, and the vicious cycle of 
poverty from putting its deadly grip on the new country.

On May 14 and 15, donor countries and international 
financial institutions (IFIs) will hold a pledging 
conference to cover the financing gap in Dili, East 
Timor's capital.  With concerted grassroots pressure from 
within the U.S. and other countries, we can make sure that 
grants with no strings attached cover the gap in its 
entirety. Otherwise, East Timor may have no choice but to 
resort to loans with terms dictated by the IMF, World 
Bank, and Asian Development Bank. We must not let this 
happen.

WHAT YOU CAN DO -
Call, fax, and email your Senators, Representative, and 
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Tell your Senators and Representative
- The U.S. government should build on its recent support 
for East Timor by helping to meet its short-term budget 
gap.
- The U.S. should not allow East Timor to go into debt 
immediately after independence. With their country 
devastated by Indonesian occupation, the East Timorese are 
among the poorest on the planet. They should not be forced 
to choose between feeding the hungry and servicing a debt.
- East Timor represents the first chance for both the 
administration and Congress to put statements about global 
eradication of poverty into action by taking preemptive 
measures.
  The U.S. government should make the most generous 
donation possible at the May pledging conference in East 
Timor, funding at least 25% of the expected financing gap 
in East Timor's recurrent and development budget. Grants 
must not be tied to the crippling conditions of structural 
adjustment.
- The Senator/Representative should use every opportunity 
to ensure this by (1) voicing this most important concern 
to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage by phone or 
letter; and (2) working with other Members of Congress to 
attain the necessary funds through appropriations and/or 
State Department monies.

Phone calls and faxes are generally more effective than 
emails. The congressional switchboard number is 
202-224-3121, or check http://www.congress.org on the 
Internet for fax or e-mail information.

Tell Deputy Secretary of State Armitage:
- The U.S. government should build on its recent support 
for East Timor by helping to meet its short-term budget 
gap. The U.S. should not allow East Timor to go into debt 
immediately after independence. With their country 
devastated by Indonesian occupation, the East Timorese 
are among the poorest on the planet. They should not be 
forced to choose between feeding the hungry and servicing 
a debt.
- The administration has recently emphasized the 
importance of poverty eradication and the futility of the 
world's poorest countries drowning in debt.  East Timor 
represents the first chance for the administration to put 
their words into action and take preemptive measures.
- The U.S. government must pledge to finance at least 25% 
of the needed funds to cover East Timor's expected 
financing gap at the May donor conference in East Timor. 
The pledge must come without the crippling conditions of 
structural adjustment.
- Senior administration officials must work with 
colleagues both within the US government and the 
governments of East Timor's donor countries to ensure the 
entire financing gap is funded with unconditioned grants.

Contact for Armitage: tel:202-647-9641, fax:202-647-6047

Time is not on our side. We only have a few weeks left to 
exert public pressure. Please make these calls today!

Please let us know the results of your contacts. Thank 
you! Your efforts do make a difference!

BACKGROUND
The courageous people of East Timor paid a terrible price 
for their freedom. Many powerful nations actively 
supported the Indonesian military occupation that killed 
one-third of the population between 1974 and 1999, 
"investing" in East Timor through weapons sales to 
Indonesia. The U.S. government, the largest supporter of 
the Indonesian military, supplied the military with 90% of 
the weapons used during the 1975 invasion of East Timor 
followed by well over a billion dollars worth of military 
assistance and weapons sales throughout the occupation. In 
1999, 
Indonesian security forces and their militia proxies 
violently retaliated after the East Timorese opted for 
independence in a UN-sponsored referendum. Troops 
destroyed 75% of the already poor country's 
infrastructure, displaced two-thirds of the population, 
raped hundreds of women and 
girls, and killed some 2,000.

Centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and 24 years of 
brutal, illegal Indonesian military occupation have made 
East Timor one of the poorest places on the planet. East 
Timor has a 60% illiteracy rate, a per capita gross 
national product of $340, and a life expectancy of only 48 
years. The infant mortality rate is 135 per 1000 live 
births, and the maternal mortality rate is twice that of 
other countries in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific.

The Bush administration and other governments have 
recently stated their commitment to eradicating global 
poverty. The U.S. now advocates that a large portion of 
international 
assistance to poor countries should come in the form of 
grants. President Bush must put his money where his mouth 
is and help East Timor embark on its new nationhood free 
of debt and without crippling structural adjustment 
conditions. Worldwide poverty and inequality within and 
between countries have increased throughout the era of 
structural adjustment. The people of East Timor have only 
to look to their neighbor Indonesia for a good example. 
Unfortunately, IFIs and the U.S. leadership appear to be 
ignoring these lessons. In doing so, they are doomed to 
repeat failed policies and practices, and it will be the 
East Timorese people who suffer. At the UN International 
Conference on Financing for Development in March, the U.S. 
continued to insist on tying money for poor countries to 
the stranglehold of structural adjustment. Unless those 
mobilized for global justice and debt cancellation rally 
in support of a debt-free, structural adjustment-free East 
Timor, the people of the world's newest country may be 
subjected to a new form of economic colonialism. 

For more information, see ETAN media release, "East Timor 
Action Network to Bush: 'Put Your Money Where Your Mouth 
Is' Calls for a Debt-Free East Timor" 
http://www.etan.org/news/2002a/03debt.htm.

Additional background can be found at www.etan.org. You 
can also contact Karen Orenstein, ETAN's Washington 
Coordinator, karen@etan.org, 202-544-6911.