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Explanation
This was a Portuguese colony on the island of Timor within
the Indonesian archipelago. At independence from Portugal in
November 1975 Indonesia annexed it. Churches report that 100,000
people may have died in the invasion. Census records suggest
a further 100,000 since.
Some of the inhabitants organized a resistance against the
Indonesians. As with the 1965 massacre of Communists in Indonesia
itself this invasion is believed to have been encouraged by the
United States (State Department documents confirm this). The
reason would have been to remove the FRETILIN government which
was alleged to be left wing.
The world community tacitly recognized the annexation with
few protests. A guerrilla war followed. The United Nations still
recognized Portugal as the legal ruler, but took no practical
steps to do anything about it (discouraged by western votes).
A televised massacre of peaceful demonstrators in November
1991 brought the conflict to world attention, and was perhaps
the event that eventually brought international action. Indonesia
was forced to withdraw (after their own military regime fell)
and an international UN administration took over. The departing
Indonesians wrecked the offices and set fire to homes and businesses,
leaving very little for the new government.
FALANTIL (Armed Forces for the National Liberation of Timor)
organized the fight against Indonesia.
The last act was the declaration of independence following
UN supervised elections, in 19 May 2002.
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