Word: timorously
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...might have thought the citizens of the tiny new nation of East Timor would be tired of violence. Hundreds were killed when Indonesia's departing military forces and pro-Jakarta militias implemented a scorched-earth policy in 1999; last year 37 people died and more than 150,000 fled their homes as tensions between the local police and military erupted. But last week it appeared some Timorese were still willing to make mischief to further their political ambitions. On Monday, President Jose Ramos-Horta announced the appointment as Prime Minister of former resistance fighter Xanana Gusmão, who leads...
Democracy can be a messy business. The tiny Southeast Asian nation of East Timor, just five years old, learned that lesson this week after parliamentary elections on Saturday resulted in no one party capturing a majority. Preliminary official results released on July 5th gave former ruling party Fretilin 29% of the vote, while the National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor (CNRT), the party newly formed by popular ex-President and independence fighter Xanana Gusmão, trailed with 24%. The split vote means that East Timor - already fractured along geographical and socioeconomic lines - will most likely be ruled...
...nation of East Timor was born in bloodshed. Hundreds of civilians died in 1999 as departing soldiers from Indonesia, which ruled the half-island for 24 years, torched the country. The United Nations quickly moved in, restored peace and set about providing this traumatized country with the basics of nationhood, from a constitution to government ministries. By 2004, the UN administration was confident enough about East Timor's start-up democracy that it began pulling out troops...
...Support for Fretilin this time around was roughly half that amount, and the party is increasingly viewed as out of touch with East Timor's poverty-stricken masses. "In five years, Fretilin was not able to do anything to make this country better," says Lucia Lobato, a politician with the opposition Social Democratic Party. "People have lost patience...
...other political force has been able to fully capitalize on Fretilin's waning popularity, not even Gusmão's CNRT. Although the party was founded by East Timor's most beloved leader, CNRT was formed so hastily earlier this year that it was not able to build the electoral infrastructure needed to convert respect for Gusmão into actual votes. Still, Gusmão could very well end up as the country's Prime Minister after coalition talks take place over the coming weeks...