[stop-imf] East Timor to join IMF and World Bank

Wed, 24 Jul 2002 11:12:31 -0700

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Deutsche Presse-Agentur
July 22, 2002

East Timor to join IMF and World Bank

Washington

East Timor, the world's youngest nation, was due to join the
International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank on Tuesday, the lending institutions
said.

At a Washington ceremony, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri was scheduled to
sign
the Articles of Agreement for the Asian country of 800,000 people to
join the
twin organizations.

East Timor became a sovereign state, the Democratic Republic of East
Timor,
on May 20 after four centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and 24 years
of
Indonesian occupation.

Jakarta invaded the territory in 1975 and annexed it the following year.

During an occupation marked by bloodshed, disease and starvation, some
200,000
people were killed.

An overwhelming vote for independence in a 1999 U.N.-organized ballot
sparked an orgy of violence by pro-Jakarta militias on the territory
that
borders Indonesian West Timor.

After international peacekeepers intervened, Jakarta relinquished East
Timor
to the United Nations in October of the same year.

East Timor will have access to more than 440 million dollars pledged by
over
25 nations over three years for programmes to fight poverty and promote
economic
growth, the World Bank said in May.

The U.N. Development Programme rates East Timor as among the poorest
countries, on par with Angola, Bangladesh and Haiti.

East Timor's per capita income is 478 dollars, and nearly half the
population survives on less than 55 cents a day, says the UNDP. More
than half
of all adults are illiterate, over half of infants are underweight and
the
average life expectancy is 57 years.

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<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
<html>
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
 July 22, 2002
East Timor to join IMF and World Bank
Washington
East Timor, the world's youngest nation,
was due to join the International
 Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank on
Tuesday, the lending institutions said.
At a Washington ceremony, Prime Minister
Mari Alkatiri was scheduled to
 sign
 the Articles of Agreement for the Asian
country of 800,000 people to join the
 twin organizations.
East Timor became a sovereign state,
the Democratic Republic of East
 Timor,
 on May 20 after four centuries of Portuguese
colonial rule and 24 years of
 Indonesian occupation.
Jakarta invaded the territory in 1975
and annexed it the following year.
 During an occupation marked by bloodshed,
disease and starvation, some 200,000
 people were killed.
An overwhelming vote for independence
in a 1999 U.N.-organized ballot
 sparked an orgy of violence by pro-Jakarta
militias on the territory that
 borders Indonesian West Timor.
After international peacekeepers intervened,
Jakarta relinquished East
 Timor
 to the United Nations in October of
the same year.
East Timor will have access to more than
440 million dollars pledged by
 over
 25 nations over three years for programmes
to fight poverty and promote
 economic
 growth, the World Bank said in May.
The U.N. Development Programme rates
East Timor as among the poorest
 countries, on par with Angola, Bangladesh
and Haiti.
East Timor's per capita income is 478
dollars, and nearly half the
 population survives on less than 55
cents a day, says the UNDP. More than half
 of all adults are illiterate, over half
of infants are underweight and the
 average life expectancy is 57 years.</html>

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