Timor-Leste Independence
Portugal abandoned its colony abruptly in 1975; Indonesia invaded within days of a unilateral declaration of independence by FRETILIN, with prior acquiescence from Washington and Canberra. The occupation was resisted continuously and prosecuted with famine, forced relocation and mass killing; the 1991 Santa Cruz cemetery massacre, filmed and broadcast internationally, changed the diplomatic position more than two decades of casualties had. Suharto's fall in 1998 opened the question, and his successor Habibie unexpectedly offered a referendum. Held in August 1999 under UN supervision amid militia intimidation, it produced a decisive vote for independence, after which army-backed militias killed some 1,400 people and destroyed the majority of the country's buildings and infrastructure before an Australian-led international force deployed. The UN administered the territory until formal independence in 2002. Xanana Gusmao, a guerrilla commander imprisoned in Jakarta for much of the occupation, became the first president.
- Year: 2002 CE
- Category: Political
