East Timor Independence

Secretary-General shall agree on arrangements for a peaceful and orderly transfer of authority in East Timor to the United Nations. The Secretary-General shall, subject to the appropriate legislative mandate, initiate the procedure enabling East Timor to begin a process of transition towards independence.

Article 7 During the interim period between the conclusion of the popular consultation and the start of the implementation of either option, the parties request the Secretary-General to maintain an adequate United Nations presence in East Timor. “

Conclusion

On August, 30th, History was written in East Timor: 98.6% of registered voters exercised their democratic right in a UN-organised referendum, considered by the Indonesian authorities as "free and fair". Defying eight months of intimidation by indonesian-armed militiamen, mostly transmigrated from West Timor, the population stood in long queues at the ballot sites, in some cases waiting hours in the sun after walking kilometres to the nearest polling station.

Hardly anybody partied in Dili, though, or in the rest of the territory; celebrations were held abroad, though, in Australia, Portugal, the United States, Ireland, England, Mozambique, even Indonesia, wherever a Timorese community is to be found. But inside the new Nation, just four hours after the official announcement, the defeated militia gangs started to set East Timor on fire. BBC, CNN, and other international TV stations broadcasted to the world images once seen in other war scenarios - fire of automatic weapons, houses set on fire, innocent civilians seeking shelter in the schools, the churches, the neighbouring mountains. International media reports mentioned 145 deaths in Dili only, in the 48 hours following the announcement. On September, 5th and 6th, most international observers, journalists and the civilian personnel of UNAMET were evacuated from the territory, either by chartered planes or the Australian Air Force. On the afternoon of September, the 5th, four indonesian ministers - including Defence and Foreign Affairs holders, General Wiranto and Mr. Ali Alatas - and one secretary of State paid a 4-hour visit to Dili - though they never left the airport "for security reasons".

On the evening of that same day, the UN Security Council, gathered on an emergency meeting in New York, once more abstained from sending in a peace-keeping force. The Indonesian authorities claimed to be able to restore peace and tranquility, though 20.000 men already stationed in the territory failed to do so until now, and were even reported to have participated, in some cases directly, in the new mass killings started on September, 4th. TV, photographic and oral evidence from UNAMET staff and international media wasn't enough, so the Council decided to send a "fact-finding mission" to Jakarta.

On the morning of September, the 6th, the home of Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ximenes Belo, was set on fire. The bishop seaked refugee in Baucau, though he was impotent to save the hundreds of refugees in his frontyard, now facing death or deportation to West Timor, like so many before them. More than 1,000 refugees were sheltered at the UNAMET compound in Dili, and the UN convoys were shot at in the road to the airport.

Despite several United Nations Resolutions on the right of the Timorese to self-determination (the UN has never recognized the indonesian annexation of the territory), the international community has been blind to the fight of its inhabitants. Only since November 12th, 1991, when more than 250 youngsters were killed during a brutal massacre occurred in a cematery in Dili (the capital city of East Timor), have the "civilized" nations condemned Indonesia in a more consistent way. But words of condemnation sound empty when the same countries sell arms to the regime (a dictatorship ruling Indonesia for decades), and strengthen the economic ties binding European and American states to Jakarta.

The five days which mediated until official results were announced were days of tension, with frequent militia attacks in Dili and other spots in the territory. But on the morning of September, 4th, UNAMET (United Nations Assistance Mission to East Timor) leader Ian Martin announced the results, minutes after the United Nations' Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, had done the same in New York: 21.5% of the voters had chosen to accept the Special Autonomy offered to the territory by Indonesia, while an overwhelming majority of 78.5% reffused it, thus laying the path to independence.

The sources

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Aubrey, Jim Free East Timor – Australia’s Culpability in East Timor’s Genocide. Vintage – Random House Australia

Carey, P & GC Bentley East Timor at the Crossroads, The Forging of a Nation, Cassell, NY, 1995

CIIR/IPJET International Law and the Question of East Timor, London, 1995

Cox, Steve Generations of Resistance: East Timor, Cassell, UK, 1995

Dunn, James 1. East Timor - the Balibo Incident in Perspective, Sydney, 1995

Timor: A People Betrayed , ABC Books, Sydney, 1996

East Timor: No Solutions Without respect for Human Rights: Bi-Annual Report of Human Rights Violations, January to June 1998

Violence by the State Against Women in East Timor: A Report to the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Including its Clauses and Consequences

East Timorese Political Prisoners

Breaking the Cycle of Human Rights Violations in East Timor: Annual Report of Human Rights Violations in East Timor 1997

Hobart East Timor Committee Hobart East Timor Committee – Papers, 1998 Jardine, Matthew

Ramos Horta, Jose, International Perspectives on Children of War, Family and Conciliation Courts Review Vol 36 No 3 July 1998

Salla, Michael E, Creating the 'Ripe Moment' in the East Timor Conflict, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 34, No. 4, November 1997

ETAN/US - Pamphlets/Reports NY,USA

Indonesia and East Timor: On the verge of change? Charles Scheiner, Matthew Jardine & Sidhawati ETAN, Global Exchange & Justice for All, April 1998