Goodbye Conflict, Welcome Development, The Timor-Leste Experience
VIEW EVENT DETAILSHis Excellency
Kay Rala Xanana Gusm?o
Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
On August 8, 2007, Kay Rala Xanana Gusm?o officially became the fourth Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, a position he has held for almost five years. Prime Minister Gusm?o is a legend among his people. For two decades, he fought an armed rebellion against Indonesian rule, spent more than six years in an Indonesian prison and under house arrest. He was released on September 7, 1999, just days after the result of East Timor's landmark referendum was announced.
Timor-Leste became independent on May 20, 2002, and is now a democratically governed, independent nation with an elected President and Parliament. Occupying 5,950 square miles on the eastern half of an island in the Timor Sea between Indonesia and Australia, Timor-Leste has a population of approximately 1.1 million people.
In the violence that followed Timor-Leste's 1999 independence referendum, the country's basic infrastructure was totally destroyed and since then has been only partially rebuilt. In April 2006 violence erupted again in and around the capital, Dili, resulting in further damage to infrastructure and setting back economic growth. Consequently, electricity, telephone and telecommunications, roads and lodging remain unreliable. During the slow, steady progress of recovery and rebuilding, the country's economy has relied largely on international assistance and more recently revenues from oil and gas production. A Petroleum Fund of $4.75 billion is now the country's largest source of income.
This event is co-hosted by SAIS, Johns Hopkins University.
Special thanks to the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor), Washington DC
Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
On August 8, 2007, Kay Rala Xanana Gusm?o officially became the fourth Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, a position he has held for almost five years. Prime Minister Gusm?o is a legend among his people. For two decades, he fought an armed rebellion against Indonesian rule, spent more than six years in an Indonesian prison and under house arrest. He was released on September 7, 1999, just days after the result of East Timor's landmark referendum was announced.
Timor-Leste became independent on May 20, 2002, and is now a democratically governed, independent nation with an elected President and Parliament. Occupying 5,950 square miles on the eastern half of an island in the Timor Sea between Indonesia and Australia, Timor-Leste has a population of approximately 1.1 million people.
In the violence that followed Timor-Leste's 1999 independence referendum, the country's basic infrastructure was totally destroyed and since then has been only partially rebuilt. In April 2006 violence erupted again in and around the capital, Dili, resulting in further damage to infrastructure and setting back economic growth. Consequently, electricity, telephone and telecommunications, roads and lodging remain unreliable. During the slow, steady progress of recovery and rebuilding, the country's economy has relied largely on international assistance and more recently revenues from oil and gas production. A Petroleum Fund of $4.75 billion is now the country's largest source of income.
This event is co-hosted by SAIS, Johns Hopkins University.
Special thanks to the Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (East Timor), Washington DC
Event Details
Thu 24 Feb 2011
Kenney Auditorium Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies The Johns Hopkins University 1740 Massachusetts Avenue, NW washington, dc
Free admission. Please RSVP to [email protected] or 202-663-5837 with your name and affiliation. RSVPs required by 12:00 pm on February 22.