East Timor declares its independence in joyous ceremony
Posted on 05/19/2002 12:06:18 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
East Timor declares its independence in joyous ceremony
05/19/2002
DILI, East Timor East Timor, a land long brutalized by foreign occupiers, was declared independent Monday in a joyous ceremony in this seaside capital, and took its place among the community of nations.
The world's newest country came into being minutes after midnight with a dazzling display of fireworks, a solemn declaration of independence by parliamentary speaker Fransisco Guterres and a speech by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
"I declare the establishment of the Democratic Republic of East Timor as an independent and sovereign state," Guterres said. "Glory to the heroes of our liberation."
Minutes later, former guerrilla commander Xanana Gusmao was declared the country's first president. Last month, he won the overwhelming majority of votes in presidential elections.
"I salute you people of East Timor for the courage and perseverance you have shown," Annan told an exuberant crowd as the world body officially transferred authority over the half-island territory.
A peacekeeper lowered the blue U.N. flag as the new flag of East Timor was raised to replace it. The new flag was escorted into the arena by a platoon of soldiers from East Timor's nascent defense force.
"Yours has not been an easy path to independence," Annan said. You should be very proud of your achievement. That a small nation is able to inspire the world and be the focus of our attention is the highest tribute that I can pay."
Thousands of East Timorese smiled, cheered and hugged each other in an outpouring of emotion marking the end of four centuries of Portuguese colonial rule, 24 years of brutal Indonesian occupation and 21/2 years of interim rule by the United Nations.
Thirty minutes earlier, Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri arrived at the venue accompanied by Gusmao. They held hands and raised them aloft, as the crowd cheered and clapped.
Attending the festivities were former President Bill Clinton, who officially represented the United States; Australian Prime Minister John Howard; and Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio.
Earlier, Megawati was greeted by a small group of demonstrators as she visited an Indonesian military cemetery in Dili.
The new nation, with a population of 800,000, is one of the world's poorest. Unemployment is estimated at 70 percent and the World Bank says the average East Timorese lives on just 55 cents a day.
And old ghosts haunt the new country one speck of land in the 3,000-mile-long archipelago that is home to 200 million Indonesians.
Tens of thousands of East Timorese were killed during Indonesia's occupation through forced migration, starvation and murder.
The territory voted overwhelmingly for independence in a U.N.-sponsored referendum in 1999. Immediately afterward, the Indonesian military and its pro-Jakarta proxies laid waste to much of the territory in a blood bath that killed hundreds and focused international attention on the independence struggle.
International peacekeepers intervened to halt the violence and place East Timor under U.N. rule.
"Militia came into our house and hit my husband over the head with a gun. I was still holding the baby," Delphina, a 26-year-old housewife, said of the 1999 rampage. "When I ran outside I was stopped by militia and they hit me over the head with a stone and I fell to the ground."
She said the militia killed her godfather and tore open his skull.
"I'm happy," she said on the eve of independence. "But I also feel sad because I lost members of my family. ... But all the blood and tears were worth it now that independence is finally here."
East Timor has set up a truth and reconciliation commission to reveal past crimes and help people come to terms with them. The new leaders say perpetrators should be brought to justice but that nation-building, not revenge, should be the new government's priority.
Trials are under way in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta to prosecute several military officers involved in the 1999 violence but many human rights groups say the proceedings amount to a whitewash.
Indonesia will be East Timor's top foreign policy priority because of its proximity and economic dominance. East Timor also wants to prevent disgruntled Indonesian officers from inciting pro-Jakarta militiamen still living in refugee camps in Indonesian West Timor.
Megawati, a longtime opponent of East Timorese independence, nevertheless attended Sunday's independence celebrations in a decision that angered hardline Indonesian lawmakers.
Gusmao, a 55-year-old poet, accompanied her on a visit Sunday to a cemetery containing the graves of some 700 Indonesian soldiers who died during that country's 24-year occupation.
Gusmao served more than six years in jail and house arrest, before being elected president in a U.N.-supervised vote in April.
Reducing poverty will be the biggest challenge facing the new government. East Timor is expected to sign a treaty with Australia next week dividing oil and gas reserves under the Timor Sea.
But revenue from those reserves are not expected to kick in until 2005. In the meantime the country will be largely dependent on foreign aid.
For now, East Timorese are savoring the joy of independence.
About 500 people crowded into the residence of Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo for an Independence Day Mass earlier Sunday. They prayed in silence, but when the service was over they smiled and laughed and spoke of hopes for the future.
Bishop Belo shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Jose Ramos-Horta, the new East Timorese foreign minister, for his peaceful struggle for independence.
Ramos-Horta told The Associated Press that now is a time for "peace, tolerance and forgiveness."
"We are very happy. We are a proud and simple people who deserve peace, who deserve freedom," he said.
Is this the best the Bush administration could do?
Is this the best the Bush administration could do?
Calm down.
No one else would go.
Attending the festivities were former President Bill Clinton,
who officially represented the United States;
Is this the best the Bush administration could do?Can you think of anyone LOWER than clintoon to send to this country
I did not have sexual relations with that country,.....East Timor.
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