east timor independence

The Polisario Front has created an international diplomatic presence on a shoestring budget and sees the Trump administration as its best hope in decades to gain independence from Morocco. Besides the flouted promise of a referendum, the 1991 cease-fire allowed Moroccan forces to remain on the northern and western sides of a Moroccan-built sand berm that encompasses close to three-quarters of the territory—including its major cities and mineral wealth. In 1978 Australia’s prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, was the first to recognise Jakarta’s de facto annexation. [1] By many Indonesians (including the government), the referendum is also called the East Timorese poll ( Indonesian : Jajak pendapat Timor Timur ), since the referendum was legally non-binding and required the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) statement to revoke its previous 1978 statement if the majority of … To the Polisario—which has repeatedly threatened to abrogate the cease-fire over the years following various Moroccan violations—this assault was the final straw. Just because East Timor had finally achieved independence this did not mean that its ties to Mozambique fell to the wayside, as relations between the two countries remain close. East Timor was invaded and occupied by Indonesia in 1975, which annexed the territory as its "27th Province" in 1976, but in a referendum held in 1999, the people of East Timor voted to end Indonesian occupation and become an independent state. The outbreak of violence is concerning not only because it flew in the face of nearly three decades of relative stasis, but also because Western governments’ reflexive response to the resurgent conflict may be to upend—and thereby hamper and delegitimize for perpetuity—more than 75 years of established international legal principles. It may take similar grassroots campaigns in Europe and North America to ensure that Western powers live up to their international legal obligations and pressure Morocco to allow the people of Western Sahara the right to determine their own destiny. East Timor country profile 26 February 2018 East Timor's road to independence - achieved on 20 May 2002 - was long and traumatic. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Biden should support any U.N. efforts to ensure that the Sahrawi people are allowed to participate in an internationally supervised referendum on the fate of the territory—one which actually includes the option of independence and, importantly, allows Sahrawi refugees in Algeria to participate. Gusmão and other exiled leaders returned soon afterwards and the UN ran a three-year administration in the lead-up to parliamentary and presidential elections. In this perverse sense, then, the Polisario’s resumption of guerrilla activity could actually increase foreign support for Morocco. The conflict in Western Sahara dates back to 1975, when the territory was on the verge of gaining independence from its colonizer, Spain. The East Timor Model Offers a Way out for Western Sahara and Morocco. The historical progenitors who dominated at that time were mainly born in the 1930s and 1940s. Despite this track record, a Biden government could be malleable to pressure. Cruel ironies and strange mirror effects mark Australia’s performance in the lead-up to Indonesia’s invasion, in 1974–75, and East Timor’s independence vote in 1999. But this is bad timing for Algeria, which would be loath to be dragged into a conflict with its Western-backed neighbor—at least right now. Neutrality is an inappropriate position in a dispute between the people of a non-self-governing territory demanding their right to self-determination and an occupying power denying them that right. Jakarta feared a communist state on its doorstep and that a newly independent country in its sphere could destabilise the rest of the archipelago. In April 1974 a leftwing coup in Lisbon, the Carnation Revolution, led to Portugal setting its colonial outposts adrift. Mauritania ceded its portion of Western Sahara to the SADR in 1979, only to see it immediately seized by Morocco. East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century on 20 May 2002 when it gained independence from Indonesia When is Restoration of Independence Day in East-Timor? However, neutrality is an inappropriate position in a dispute between the people of a non-self-governing territory demanding their right to self-determination and an occupying power denying them that right. Hundreds of people were killed, and thousands fled to the western half of the island; refugees subsequently began returning home. Fretilin and its armed wing, Falintil, retreated to the interior of the island with tens of thousands of civilians. The earlier Veddo-Australoid peoples withdrew at this time to the moun… Crucially the proclamation didn't have widespread international support with only a handful of Marxist countries recognising the territory's independence from Portugal. Morocco has exploited this assumption, launching contradictory claims about the Polisario’s alleged ties to rivals like the Islamic State, al Qaeda, and Hezbollah—never mind that the secular and moderately leftist Polisario has nothing to do with extremist Islamist organizations. These external controls are dwarfed by Morocco’s tactics in Western Sahara: In the past, even nonviolent Sahrawi resistance—of peaceful protests, sit-ins, occupations, strikes, and boycotts—has been met with severe repression. Twitter: @SZunes. The U.N., for its part, has affirmed that Western Sahara is a non-self-governing territory—a verdict repeated by a landmark ruling of the International Court of Justice. Therefore on November 28th 1975, the left-wing Fretlin declared the unilateral declaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor. In the 1990s, a combination of the independence movement gaining strength, growing worldwide pressure and political reform in Indonesia led to … Argument: On 28 November 1975, East Timor’s interim government unilaterally declared its independence from all forms of colonialism and exploitation. East Timor independence: a short history of a long and brutal struggle – video Why did East Timor hold a referendum in 1999? East Timor independence: a short history of a long and brutal struggle – video. As a result, the Indonesian government was finally willing to offer a referendum on independence. Indonesian-backed militia groups who had terrorised the population before the vote stepped up their attacks, aided by Indonesian security forces. The fate of Western Sahara is a rare issue that does not fall neatly along partisan lines, and senators ranging from Democrat Patrick Leahy to Republican James Inhofe have pushed successive U.S. administrations to support Sahrawi’s right to a referendum on independence. Renewed United Nations-brokered mediation efforts between Indonesia … In the medium term, the United States should halt military aid, arms sales, and other military cooperation with Morocco, prohibit the import of any natural resources illegally extracted from Western Sahara, and work with Europeans and Africans to limit economic cooperation that supports the occupation. Local elections were held in East Timor and the two biggest parties – the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Fretilin) and the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) – formed a coalition, but it did not last long. East Timor, a portion of the Indonesian archipelago, was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century. The failure of the international community to force Morocco to live up to its international legal obligations is what has led to the Western Saharan crisis in the first place. East Timor was already an independent country, as a result of the pro-independence political party Fretilin declaring East Timor, which had been a Portugese colony, independent on November 28, 1975. PHILOSOPHY AND TACTICS The leftist coup that took over Portugal in 1974 was responsible for … A three-week campaign of violence killed 2,600 people, nearly 30,000 were displaced and as many as 250,000 were forcibly shipped over the border to Indonesian West Timor after the ballot, in what amounted to a scorched earth policy. The landmark vote in 1999, in which 78.5% of East Timorese chose independence from Indonesia, was the culmination of 24 years of occupation by Jakarta and, before that, hundreds of years of colonial rule by Portugal. There may be an opening now, too, with the incoming Biden administration. Any burgeoning conflict in Western Sahara would not simply be a proxy war: The call for a return to war has been growing among both among Sahrawis under Moroccan occupation as well as refugees in Algeria, who have been waiting upwards of 45 years to return to their homeland. It does not allow the Sahrawis the option of independence—to which they are entitled as a U.N.-recognized non-self-governing territory according to international law, a series of U.N. resolutions, and a landmark World Court ruling. However, the transfer of power was accompanied by violence perpetrated by anti-independence militants. were forcibly shipped over the border to Indonesian West Timor. The Polisario, meanwhile, has counted primarily on the support of countries in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia—which recognize the conflict in Western Sahara as an incomplete decolonization. The return to war in the deserts of Western Sahara is a tragedy. What is commemorated as Timor Leste's (East Timor) "liberation" is the United Nations-facilitated referendum on August 30, 1999. But bolstering Rabat would be counterproductive—and misguided. A Report by Dieter Hermann East Timor gained independence 12 years ago. The group announced its withdrawal from the cease-fire agreement and has resumed attacks against Moroccan forces along the 1675-mile sand berm that separates the Moroccan and Polisario-controlled areas of Western Sahara. East Timor's road to independence - achieved on 20 May 2002 - was long and traumatic. The people of the first new nation of … The semi-autocratic and increasingly unpopular regime in Algiers has been focused primarily on consolidating control in the face of mass domestic protests and shoring up the domestic economy during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen oil prices tank. Opportunities for dissent—much less sustained guerilla activity—are thus limited in Western Sahara, which Freedom House considers one of the dozen least free nations in the world, featuring (a lack of) rights on par with the dearth thereof in Tibet, Uzbekistan, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia. For years, French and U.S. veto threats on the U.N. Security Council have stymied efforts to place the issue of Western Sahara under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, which would give the international community the power to impose sanctions or other appropriate leverage on Morocco to force the country to abide by the U.N. mandates it has to date disregarded. In 2000, the East Timorese voted for self-determination and the country is … East Timor's official independence was declared on the May 20, 2002. Starting on Oct. 21 this year, scores of Sahrawi civilians engaged in a nonviolent sit-in to block the highway, only to be violently dispersed by Moroccan troops two weeks later. In 1992 the head of the resistance, Xanana Gusmão, was captured and imprisoned in Jakarta. As many as 200,000 people are thought to have perished in fighting, massacres and forced starvation. In 1996 the country’s de facto foreign affairs minister, José Ramos-Horta, was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace prize with Bishop Carlos Belo, the head of the Catholic church in Timor. Independence for East Timor, or even limited regional autonomy, was not allowable under Suharto's New Order. In May 2002 Gusmão was inducted as president of the newly named Timor-Leste. Anti Independence Timorese militia who were supported by the Indonesian … The 1999 referendum came after 24 years of occupation by Indonesian forces, Last modified on Fri 30 Aug 2019 08.42 BST. This caused widespread anger among many Indonesian nationalists, particularly in the military. EAST-TIMOR BEFORE AND AFTER INDEPENDENCE PORTUGESE COLONIAL PERIOD (1769 - 1975) * Colonisation begins in East Timor in 1769 with the founding of Dili and continues into the 19th & 20th century. Biden has promised to work across the aisle, and Western Sahara may be the one area where it is actually feasible to do so. Indonesian troops at the house in which Australian journalists Greg Shackleton and Malcolm Rennie, cameramen Gary Cunningham and Brian Peters, and sound recordist Tony Stewart sheltered before dying while trying to capture images of Indonesian troops as they invaded Balibo in 1975. a multinational non-United Nations peacemaking task force, organised and led by Australia in accordance with United Nations resolutions to address the humanitarian and security crisis that took place in East Timor from 1999–2000 until the arrival of UN peacekeepers. In 2000, the East Timorese voted for self-determination and the country is now free. In 1998 a political earthquake brought change to Indonesia. The Independence of East Timor provides the most exhaustive and detailed account to date of the many, varied and creative ways in which the country’s internal resistance combined with an international solidarity movement to expose the brutalities of Indonesia’s occupation, achieve Indonesia’s withdrawal, and create the conditions for East Timor’s independence. For over a decade, Morocco—with French and U.S. support—continued to battle Polisario guerrillas while violently suppressing pro-independence demonstrations and other nationalist activities within the occupied Western Saharan territory it considers part of Morocco. Still, recognition only goes so far when the occupying power refuses to budge: The U.N.’s peacekeeping and human-rights operations in Western Sahara have been severely curtailed by Rabat—and key allies with veto power on the U.N. Security Council. The last two decades of the century saw continuous clashes between Indonesian and East Timorese groups over the status of East Timor, until 1999, when a majority of East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence (the alternative option being "special autonomy" while remaining part of Indonesia). Chief among these allies is neighboring Algeria, traditionally the Polisario’s primary supporter. It was not until 1975 that Portugal decolonized the area, at which point East Timor declared independence. Just two years after independence, Mozambique became the first African country to host a Timorese embassy; a fitting development that … Failing to do so not only has the potential to prolong the bitter conflict in Western Sahara, but to upend the liberal global order in its entirety. Virtually no country recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Biden, who will arrive at the White House with a foreign-policy portfolio unrivaled by most of his predecessors, should understand the dangerous precedent that could be set by recognizing an incomplete decolonization. The East Timor Model Offers a Way out for Western Sahara and Morocco But extensive damage had been done. The chances of such a mutually satisfying diplomatic settlement, however, are slim. Suharto’s successor, President BJ Habibe, was more open to some form of autonomy for East Timor, and released Gusmão from prison in Jakarta, into house arrest. East Timor would officially achieve recognised independence on 20 May 2002. A License To Kill (1999) - In the lead-up to the Timorese vote for independence, pro-integration militias menace and murder civilians. Australia–East Timor relations refer to the bilateral relations between Australia and East Timor.Both countries are near neighbors with close political and trade ties. The EU got its act together not by banning exports but through classic cooperation with industry. With an underdeveloped economy and high poverty rates it faces many challenges. A growing focus on the issue of illegal exploitation of natural resources in Western Sahara is providing proponents of international law and human rights a way to challenge governments and companies that illegally take advantage of the occupation, by targeting them through campaigns that advocate boycotts, divestment, and sanctions. For France—Morocco’s former colonial power alongside Spain—maintaining close political, strategic, and economic ties with the Moroccan monarchy has overridden any concerns regarding international law. Continuing to do Morocco’s bidding at the U.N. would amount to an implicit endorsement of countries expanding their territory by force, a slap in the face for all who seek to promote—universally—the right to self-determination. China Is Building Entire Villages in Another Country’s Territory, Claims of Microwave Attacks Are Scientifically Implausible, Biden Looks for Defense Hotline With China. The SADR, in turn, remains in control of the territory’s sparsely populated remaining areas and administering refugee camps in Algeria, which house close to 40 percent of the Sahrawi population. Staggering surges and new variants are imperiling leaders from Nepal to Brazil. The Polisario believes that Morocco’s failure to live up to its end of the agreement—particularly its failure to allow for a just referendum—leaves them no obligation to uphold their end of the deal. An aerial picture of the East Timorese capital of Dili on 9 September 1999 after militias set fire in the city. There is a small but growing movement in Europe supporting Western Sahara’s right to national self-determination, as well as some similar civil society initiatives in many African countries, Australia, Japan, and the United States. The Asian financial crisis and massive pro-democracy protests led to the resignation of the country’s strongman, President Suharto, who had been in power for more than 30 years and had authorised the invasion of Timor. Descendants of at least three waves of migration are believed still to live in East Timor. Thanks to social media, grief has become collective—even as the pandemic has made it a lonely affair. In fact, Moroccans only continued to settle the land; today, Moroccan settlers outnumber Western Sahara’s indigenous inhabitants. East Timor’s post-independence debt of gratitude to Mozambique. Notwithstanding Indonesian public opinion in the 1990s occasionally showing begrudging appreciation of the Timorese position, it was widely feared that an independent East Timor would destabilise Indonesian unity. The unloved industry could try to fight Biden—or get behind the global drive to vaccinate. The East Timor Model Offers a Way out for ... It’s not often that Western Sahara makes international headlines, but in mid-November it did: Nov. 14 marked the tragic—if unsurprising—breakup of a tenuous, 29-year cease-fire in Western Sahara between the occupying Moroccan government and pro-independence fighters. Meanwhile, Congress has been actively supporting the Moroccan conquest by insisting that U.S. foreign aid to Morocco “shall be made available for assistance for the Western Sahara,” as a way of undercutting State Department efforts to distinguish between Morocco and its occupied territory. Guests included Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who … Indonesia’s 1975 invasion of the former Portuguese colony took place only six weeks after Morocco’s seizure of Western Sahara. 2008 July- Final report by joint Indonesian-East Timorese Truth Commission blames Indonesia for the human rights violations in the run-up to East Timor's independence … Stephen Zunes is a professor of politics at the University of San Francisco and co-author, with Jacob Mundy, of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution (Syracuse University, 2010), the revised and expanded edition of which is scheduled for publication early next year. It appears that the Moroccan armed forces were unprepared for the Polisario’s coordinated attacks, which have reportedly resulted in a number of Moroccan casualties. Celebrations across the country were short-lived. Fernandes said one key document – describing a meeting between US secretary of defence William Cohen and t… The occupying Moroccan army, however, has never allowed that vote to take place. It launched a full-scale invasion of Timor in December 1975. Portugal’s colonial influence meant the population was culturally very different from the rest of Indonesia. In early 1976, the Polisario established the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), which has been recognized by 80 countries and is a full member state of the African Union. East Timor needs Xanana Gusmao more than ever, but his recent conduct is not helping. This time, the Polisario insists that renewed clashes won’t simply function as retaliation for yet another Moroccan provocation; instead, they say, Morocco’s latest breach provoked a return to war that will continue until their country is liberated. In 1991, the now newly defunct cease-fire quelled the armed struggle of the Polisario, which agreed to halt its militant operations in return for a U.N.-supervised independence referendum. Under pressure from the United States, which did not want to see the leftist independence movement known as the Polisario Front lead an independent state, Madrid granted administrative authority over the northern two-thirds of the country to Morocco and ceded the southern third to neighboring Mauritania. At this point, however, such movements are too small to have much impact on government policies, particularly those of France and the United States, which are the two governments most responsible for the failure of the United Nations to enforce its resolutions addressing the conflict. As a result, the Indonesian government was finally willing to offer a referendum on independence. However, following the referendum result, there was great bloodshed for three weeks. This flagrant double-standard led human-rights organizations, church groups, and a wide array of activists in the United States, Great Britain, and Australia to successfully pressure their governments to end their support for the occupation. But Indonesia’s move was not met by an accompanying resolution or staunch warning from the U.N. Security Council. Instead, the United States and France have endorsed a Moroccan “autonomy” plan for Western Sahara that is quite limited in scope and would fail to meet the international standard for autonomy. If the plan were to be imposed by the Security Council, as Washington and Paris are advocating, it would constitute the first time since the signing of the U.N. Charter that the international community recognized an incomplete decolonization and the expansion of a country’s territory by force—a grim milestone for the globe. As a result, Algeria would likely cooperate in efforts to end the fighting between Morocco and the Polisario, provided there was at least some hope of diplomatically moving Morocco toward accepting Sahrawis’ right to self-determination. On the 30th August 1999, a whopping 78.5% of people voted in favour of independence from Indonesia. The Indonesian forces were brutal. East Timor on Friday marked the 20th anniversary of a referendum that secured its independence from Indonesia, which invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975. Restoration of Independence Day is a public holiday in East Timor and is always celebrated on 20th May. It is imperative that the global community realize that, in both Western Sahara and Morocco, the path forward lies in adhering to international law, not overriding it. Indonesian forces had already secretly begun attacks across the border from Indonesian West Timor (on the other side of the island) in October 1975, where five Australian journalists were killed in the town of Balibo. The people of the first new nation of the century suffered some of the worst atrocities of modern times. Similarly, the United States, which considers Morocco as an important regional ally—first during the Cold War and now in the fight against Islamist extremists—has been similarly willing to overlook such legal and moral imperatives. The call for a return to war has been growing among both among Sahrawis under Moroccan occupation as well as refugees in Algeria, who have been waiting upwards of 45 years to return to their homeland. Following mixed signals from both the Trump and Obama administrations, former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, Edward M. Gabriel, sees a Biden administration returning to the “constructive relations” that Morocco enjoyed under the Bush and Clinton administrations, which amounts to a euphemistic endorsement of the Moroccan takeover. It could have been prevented—and it can finally be ended—if the United States and France live up to their obligations under the U.N. Charter and insist that their ally Morocco abide by well-established international legal norms. August 30 marks the 20 years since the landmark referendum, which saw East Timor begin to gain independence from Indonesia, which had invaded the … In 1996, Jose Ramos-Horta and Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to win independence for East Timor. As is the case with the Israeli occupation of Palestine—and as was the case with the 24-year Indonesian occupation of East Timor—having friends on the U.N. Security Council has allowed Morocco to run roughshod under international legal norms. The first is described by anthropologists as people of the Veddo-Australoid type. Towns and villages were decimated and vital infrastructure was ruined. The vast majority of East Timorese are devout Catholics and speak their own language (Tetun). Still, it is doubtful that a new war will win the Sahrawis their rights. The year before, leaked footage of the massacre of 100 mourners at a funeral at Santa Cruz cemetery in Dili had emerged, reminding the world of the brutality of the occupation. East Timor came back to its pre-annexation status of autonomy, but became a territory under UN supervision with no government. It’s thought 100,000 died in the first few years, as the armed resistance was largely crushed and Indonesia held civilians in detention camps where many died in a famine. Fighting broke out, there was an attempted coup by UDT, and then Fretilin unilaterally declared independence on 28 November 1975. But the UN condemned it and called for an act of self-determination. It was similar Western support for Indonesia that for many years prevented independence in East Timor. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden himself has indicated that he is neutral regarding Western Sahara. In order to ensure international law isn’t breached, Washington must first work for at the U.N. Security Council and provide a human-rights mandate like those of other peacekeeping operations to investigate and report on human-rights abuses in both the Moroccan-occupied zones and Polisario-run refugee camps. For one, Morocco’s sand berm consolidating its hold on the majority of the territory is fortified and—while vulnerable to shelling and to hit and run attacks—would be hard to penetrate for a sustained period. A similar campaign may be the best hope for the people of Western Sahara—and the vitally important international legal principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter. Unfortunately, the tendency in Washington, Paris, and other Western capitals has been to regard any armed resistance against an allied Arab government as terrorism. And most had a golden opportunity to obtain a proper education in the Portuguese structure of colonialism. Commemorative banners and posters filled the streets of Dili, where thousands gathered for festivities including speeches, musical performances and fireworks. This can change, however: Twenty-five years ago, there was relatively little civil society activity in developed nations regarding East Timor, but a dramatic growth in such activism in the late 1990s—which came on the heels of widely publicized human-rights abuses by Indonesian forces—played an important role in making East Timor’s eventual independence possible. Cultural remains at Jerimalai on the eastern tip of East Timor have been dated to 42,000 years ago, making that location one of the oldest known sites of modern human activity in Maritime Southeast Asia. Washington must recognize the importance of upholding international legal norms, even if the violator is a U.S. ally. In March 1999 Habibe announced that if, in a “process of consultation”, the East Timorese favoured independence over autonomy under Indonesia, he would grant it. The U.N.’s peacekeeping and human-rights operations in Western Sahara have been severely curtailed by Rabat—and key allies with veto power on the U.N. Security Council. In 1992 the head of the resistance, Xanana Gusmão, was captured and imprisoned in Jakarta. After 29 years of stagnation on self-determination, patience in Western Sahara has been wearing thin. On 30 August 1999 the UN oversaw an historic ballot, in which 78.5% of East Timorese rejected autonomy in favour of independence. A vehicle of the U.N. 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West Timor s parliament declared East Timor s primary supporter its colonial outposts adrift and 1940s always celebrated on May... 1999 the UN ran a three-year administration in the Portuguese structure of.. Years ago up their attacks, aided by Indonesian forces, Last modified on 30! 1999 the UN ran a three-year administration in the Portuguese structure of colonialism and.! Destabilise the rest of Indonesia of soldiers not to Report casualties, led to setting. Cease-Fire over the years following various Moroccan violations—this assault was the first is described anthropologists... The violator is a public holiday in East Timor the country is now free not by banning but! Portugal in the Portuguese structure of colonialism and exploitation Mozambique, Angola and was. Timor 's official independence was declared on the May 20, 2002 an Australian-led international peacekeeping,. The final straw state on its doorstep and that a newly independent country in its sphere could destabilise rest... Administration in the city particularly in the lead-up to parliamentary and presidential elections UN with...

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