Hanging on the wall of a conference room in the office of the Prime Minister of East Timor, Mari Alkatiri, is a satellite photo of Dili on fire. Smoke billows from scores of incandescent spots all over the city.
The image was taken from the fires of September 1999, when Indonesian-backed militias torched the country. Sadly, it is an image that is starting to become synonymous with the recent history of this newly independent country.
Just six months after independence, there were the fires of 4 December 2002, when the killing of a student by police triggered riots and the burning of shops and the home of Alkatiri.
Then there were the fires of 28 April this year when a demonstration by sacked soldiers was hijacked by political opportunists and some of the mass of unemployed youth. This led to five deaths and the burning of several cars outside the Prime Minister's office, and the burning of many homes. In between, there was in April 2005 a tense, three-week demonstration by the Catholic Church against the government. This ended peacefully but, like 28 April, it came close to being hijacked and turning violent.
These demonstrations reflect the frustration and disappointment of people who expected that independence would bring rapid change to their lives. But they are also an indication of a government that is unpopular and increasingly perceived as autocratic.
The task of building a new nation from scratch, especially after the devastation of 1999, was a massive undertaking from the beginning. But the significant achievements since independence in May 2002 have been overshadowed, and the nation set back many years.
Until 28 April, East Timor was gaining a reputation as one of the success stories of post-conflict reconstruction. After recovering from the December 2002 riots, the UN peacekeeping mission and local security forces had brought stability and development to East Timor. Last year new laws were passed for investment and petroleum development, and the country began to attract tourists.
East Timor was touted as a model for other post-conflict endeavours - including Iraq. For a country in which only a handful of the working-age population is formally employed, East Timor was remarkably safe, until recently.
There was no need for razor wire and elaborate high-security technology that is mandatory in PNG and other similarly poor countries in Africa. It was safe to wander the streets by day and night.
The president of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz, remarked