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Japan has pledged 100 million dollars in aid to help rebuild the ravaged territory of East Timor. Caren Hamadael reports from Tokyo the announcement came at the beginning of a 2-day meeting of international donor community designed to map long-term reconstruction plans for the territory.
     Thursday’ s pledge by Japan is about 1/3 of the 300 million dollars the World Bank is seeking for the reconstruction of East Timor. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki told a news conference the aid will be donated over the next 3 years through a fund set up by the World Bank and the United Nations. Reconstruction is to begin within the next few months and is expected to take years to finish. Experts say the task will be enormous. East Timor needs electrical power, schools, hospitals and a civil administration. The territory was devastated after last August’ s vote for independence. The 300 million dollars the World Bank says East Timor needs for rebuilding does not include 199 million dollars required annually for humanitarian aid. Additionally, there will be the cost of funding the UN administration in East Timor over the next 2 or 3 years as the territory moves to full independence. Thursday’ s aid pledge is in addition to Japan’ s previous contributions to help East Timor. It has already given 200 million dollars to the territory including 30 million dollars in humanitarian aid. Thirty nations and international organizations are taking part in this week’ s donor meeting for East Timor. This is Caren Hamadael, for VOA News, in Tokyo