Timor-Leste (East Timor): the ongoing pain of the people of this country is once again very much in focus. The world community had moved on but now can no longer ignore a situation that continues to deprive the people of Timor-Leste of the most basic of services.

With damage from the carnage of 1999 estimated at almost $US 4.2 billion, the rebuilding has been intolerably slow and without much greater support from the international community, the Timor-Leste economy will struggle for years to come with ongoing and very serious political and social consequences.

This is a daunting prospect for a nation that achieved its hard-won independence in May 2002.