Request for aid after troops go

By Greg Ansley

DILI - East Timor will ask New Zealand for emergency aid and long-term development assistance after our troops pull out, says an executive member of the island's Government-in-waiting, Armindo Maia.

Mr Maia spent two years in the early 1990s gaining his masters degree in development studies at Massey University. He has just returned to Dili from the surrounding hills to begin planning for an independent nation.

He fled with his wife, Ertina, and brother-in-law Nelson as militias began targeting leaders of the independent movement.

After surviving on leaves and roots and watching 30 children die of diarrhoea and starvation in the hills around Dare, south of Dili, Mr Maia returned to find his home destroyed by fire and his possessions looted.

He was shocked at the destruction of Dili. "It was like a ghost town."

Mr Maia's priority is to begin reconstructing his shattered country, and to ensure it is safe for the return of Sanana Gusmao, the revolutionary hero who will become East Timor's first President.

"Right now he's our leader and we need him here in East Timor to reorganise East Timor," Mr Maia said. "But we don't want him to return and be in danger."

Mr Maia said he believed only about 12 militia remained in hiding in Dili, but danger still existed. The new nation might need to keep its military wing, Falintil, under arms.

Mr Maia, a former lecturer at the University of East Timor, is responsible for educational planning in the National Commission for Timorese Resistance, but believes the immediate need is for crisis aid.

"In the first stage we need humanitarian aid," he said.

"We don't have money and we need humanitarian aid for the people to restart their lives.

"We need food, health aid and materials to rebuild, because the rains will come soon and most of the houses were destroyed, so people need materials to reconstruct their homes.

"And, of course, in the longer range we need to help people organise their lives, to provide work, and health systems and water systems ...

"Of course in the longer term New Zealand is a developed country.

"We need your assistance."