East Timor: CNRT Wants Joint Government 75 Percent Operational by December 21 Jun-19:22

The National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) wants the the administrative structure of East Timor to be 70 or 75 percent operational by the end of the year and 100 percent by next March, Xanana Gusmao said Wednesday in Lisbon after meeting with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres. Such are the CNRT's objectives for the joint administration to be established in July, with members drawn from the East Timorese leadership and the territory's UN Transition Administration (UNTAET), Gusmao stated. This government, to have an initial mandate of one fiscal year (until July 2001), will serve as a "test" of the governance capacity of the East Timorese, he added. Gusmao, who is president of the CNRT, East Timor's main leadership body, is in the Portuguese capital attending a donors conference with representatives of the World Bank and other institutions. At the Lisbon conference, whose main sessions will be held on Thursday and Friday, East Timor does not plan to "ask for too much" money from the countries that have supported the territory, although "maybe a little more could help," the CNRT leader said. Gusmao added that main topics of discussion during his private lunch meeting with Guterres had been the current situation in the half-island territory and "all prospects for change" expected by the East Timorese after the donors conference.

JBC -Lusa

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