By Ahmad Pathoni DILI, April 4 (Reuters) - The people of East Timor are fed up waiting for economic improvement, five years after the tiny state became a nation, President Xanana Gusmao said on Wednesday. East Timor, which broke away from Indonesian rule in 1999, will vote for a new president to replace Gusmao on Monday. The young country remains under the shadow of the violence that broke out last year, displacing more than 100,000 people and requiring the dispatch of foreign troops to end the chaos. "People feel that they are sick of waiting, waiting for something good," Gusmao told foreign correspondents in the capital, Dili. "We used to promise people jobs, the creation of jobs. But they don't see light at the end of the tunnel," said Gusmao, who appeared relaxed with the sleeves rolled up on his blue shirt. The charismatic independence hero is not seeking re-election in the April 9 election, but has said he would like to become prime minister, a role that wields real power rather than the largely ceremonial president's post. East Timor became independent in 2002 after a period of U.N. stewardship. Pro-Jakarta militiamen went on a violent rampage following the 1999 vote for independence, destroying infrastructure and killing about 1,000 people, according to the United Nations. East Timor again descended into chaos last May after the government sacked 600 rebellious soldiers who complained of discrimination. More than 30 people died in this violence. Since then, gang clashes have occurred sporadically. Security was tight in Dili ahead of Monday's vote, and U.N. police and heavily armed Australian soldiers patrolled the streets to prevent violence during the two-week campaign period which will end on Wednesday. Streets are deserted and dark after 7 p.m. Gusmao said that $1 billion earned from East Timor's oil resources should have been spent on education and health, as well as creating jobs, instead of just sitting in a U.S. bank account. "The money is being kept in a bank in New York while people are suffering," he said. Gusmao said the government was to blame for the current predicament because it had failed to provide clear direction. "Of course we used to justify our lack of capability during all these years by saying that we have a problem of human resources, we have a problem of money ... but what I can see is we don't have something that gives us the confidence that we're going in the right direction," he said. Gusmao, a former guerrilla leader who once said he would rather be a pumpkin farmer, said he was confident that with a clear development plan East Timor could fare much better in 10 or 15 years. He cited more prosperous neighbours such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia as good development examples but said that economic progress should not come at the expense of human rights. "Of course we are a very small country with a small population of less than one million, maybe in 10 years it will be 1.2 million, but still small and we can do something good."
