In 2006, a series of events in East Timor culminated in the massacre of unarmed police officers by military personnel in front of the Justice Ministry in the capital, Dili. This event signalled a catastrophic disintegration of the rule of law and a dysfunctionality in the institutions of state that some say showed that "the golden child" created by the United Nations, had, in just 4 years since the restoration of independence, become a failed state.
In the wake of this violence - which was inflamed by the country's political protagonists' manipulation of ethnic tensions, more than a third of the entire population fled from their homes in fear of thier lives. More than 18 months later, many thousands remain in retched internally displaced persons camps in the capital and gang violence and street justice continue to be a salient feature of life in this most unfortunate of cities.
The vast, near-$2 billion treasury accrued from petroleum revenues generated from the Timor Sea since independence has not been deployed to develop the economy. The country's infrastructure is decrepid and undeveloped. Housing, schooling and health care are lacking. Unemployment is high and foreign investment low. There seems little prospect of the major political forces in East Timor forging national unity, establishing a stable civil peace and creating the mechanisms for economic growth. Without the presence of international police and security forces, there is every chance that the country would quickly revert to a state of near-civil war.
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