Timor-Leste

Fig. 1 - Flag of East Timor

East Timor (Indonesian: Timor Timur; Tetum: Timor Lorosae; Portuguese: Timor Leste) is a country in Asia, consisting of the eastern half of the island of Timor as well as the islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Ocussi-Ambeno, a political enclave of East Timor situated entirely in West Timor. Its capital and main port is Dili. From the 16th century onwards it was a Portuguese colony known as Portuguese Timor.

On November 28, 1975, Portuguese Timor declared its independence as the Democratic Republic of East Timor (RDTL in the Portuguese acronym). However, this independence was to prove short-lived, as nine days later Indonesian forces launched a massive air and sea invasion of East Timor. During the invasion mass killings and rapings took place which was to leave 60,000 Timorese dead by mid-February. A puppet "Provisional Government of East Timor" was installed in mid-December and in July the following year, following a vote by handpicked "representatives" and a "request" by the "Provisional Government", East Timor was officially annexed by Indonesia - a step which was never recognised by the United Nations.

Several Timorese groups fought a resistance war against Indonesian forces for the independence of East Timor, during which many atrocities and human rights violations by the Indonesian army were reported. A sad highpoint was the killing of many East Timorese youngsters (reportedly over 250) at a cemetary in Dili on November 12, 1991. In total, estimates of the number of deaths in this war range from 100,000 to 350,000 - out of a total East Timorese population of only 700,000. The "Dili Massacre" was to prove the turning point for sympathy to the East Timorese cause in the world arena as, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union that same year, the "Marxist bogey" that Indonesia had often used against the idea of an independent East Timor had vanished. In 1996, Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta, two East Timorese activists for peace and independence, received the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1999, the Indonesian government decided, under international pressure, to hold a referendum about the future of East Timor. The referendum, held on August 30, gave a clear majority (78.5%) in favor of independence, rejecting the alternative offer of being an autonomous province within Indonesia.

After the referendum, a multinational force under the auspices of the United Nations but led by Australia landed in East Timor, and administration of East Timor was taken over by the UN through the United Nations Transitional Administration for East Timor. Elections were held in late 2001 for a national assembly to draft a constitution, a task which was finished in February 2002. East Timor became formally independent on May 20, 2002. The president is Xanana Gusmão, who had been the leader of the East Timor rebel forces.

Country code (Top level domain): TP

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