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West Timor
Background
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The violence in East Timor, prompted by the August 1999 referendum on independence, resulted in the arrival of thousands of East Timorese refugees into West Timor. This has devastated the resources of the region while the situation of the refugees themselves remains critical.
The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975 set the stage for the violence that erupted in the region in 1999. In June 1974, the new Portuguese government relinquished control of the colony of East Timor and gave the East Timorese the option of choosing to declare independence or become a part of Indonesia. The overwhelming majority voted for independence, however, Indonesia invaded the former colony the following year.
After years of counter-insurgency operations run by the Indonesian military in East Timor, the Indonesian government signed a tripartite agreement in May 1999 with the UN and Portugal to allow a referendum on independence or special autonomy. The government promised to maintain peace and security during and after the voting. A month later, Security Council Resolution 1246 established the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) to administer the referendum on August 8, 1999. UNHCR established their presence in East Timor in June 1999.
In the August referendum the East Timorese voted to reject special autonomy for East Timor and, as in 1974, East Timor chose to declare its independence from Indonesia. In the aftermath of the referendum, anti-independence militias, allegedly with support, both direct and indirect from the Indonesian military, immediately went on a killing rampage and destroyed much of East Timor. Over a period of two weeks as many 200,000 East Timorese were expelled or fled into West Timor and approximately 500,000 were internally displaced. These people made up more than 75 percent of East Timor’s population. The Indonesian police and army did little to stop the militia attacks.
In response to the violence, an international force was deployed in East Timor, prompting most militias and all Indonesian troops to withdraw into West Timor. There, militias have continued to terrorize the populations living in refugee camps along with the humanitarian aid workers. The September 2000 murders of three UNHCR workers prompted all humanitarian organizations to leave West Timor and most have not returned as of August 2001.
Currently, East Timor is under a transitional UN administration, with full independence scheduled for early 2002. As of this writing, however, as many as 70,000 East Timorese refugees still live in West Timor waiting for repatriation.
See UNHCR East Timor Report 1999: http://www.unhcr.ch/fdrs/gr99/timor.pdf
UN Resolution 1246: http://www.un.org/Docs/scres/1999/99sc1246.htm
UN creates UNTAET (Press Release 6689), http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/1999/19990611.sc6689.html
Tripartite agreement: http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/reports/1999/s1999513.htm
Security Council Resolution 1246: http://www.un.org/Docs/scres/1999/99sc1246.htm
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