Timor Leste

Timor Leste, the eastern half of Timor island and often referred to as East Timor, is located 300 miles north of Darwin, Australia. The island was settled by Malay, Melanesian and Polynesian peoples until the 1600s, when the Dutch and the Portuguese arrived and fought each other for control of the territory. In 1945 the western part of the island, which had been colonised by the Dutch, joined Indonesia, while the east remained under Portuguese rule.

As the Portuguese colonial empire broke up in the 1970s and the 1974 Carnation Revolution overthrew the dictatorship in Lisbon, East Timorese political parties sprang up. Their options for the future were federation with Portugal, full independence, or full integration into Indonesia. The Frente Revolucionária do Timor Leste Independente (Fretilin - the Revolutionary Front for an Independent Timor Leste), a left-wing party with majority popular support, declared independence on 28 November 1975 after a brief but bloody civil war sparked by a coup attempt by the more liberal União Democrática Timorense (UDT -Timorese Democratic Union). On 7 December 1975 Indonesia, which had been covertly destabilising its small neighbour, staged a full-scale land and sea invasion with the tacit approval of western governments. Indonesia's illegal occupation claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people and lasted until 1999.

Timor Leste gained independence in 2002 after a liberation struggle lasting for a quarter of a century. The East Timorese were incapable of defeating Indonesia militarily, but their United Nations (UN) sanctioned quest for self-determination captured the imagination and eventually the support of the international community. Fortunately for the East Timorese, this happened at a time - the end of the 1990s - when change had become politically possible.

Timor Leste broke free from occupation in August 1999, when the UN supervised a referendum in which four out of five Timorese voted for separation from Indonesia. Indonesia retaliated: its retreating army and their Timor Leste militias destroyed and looted 70 per cent of the country's infrastructure, forcibly displacing 300,000 people over the border. The international community intervened through the Australian-led InterFET, and successive joint UN-East Timorese administrations saw the country through to independence.

Fretilin won the constituent assembly elections in 2001 and has presided over the country's transition, led until recently by Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri. The government has inherited a country with a largely unemployed population and an economy in ruins. Key challenges include the search for reconciliation with justice and the establishment of a strong government administration with a strong civil society.

As in other places where long guerrilla wars have raged, women and children were the most vulnerable victims. But women did more than passively suffer abuse and war crimes: they played an active and crucial role in resistance and survival. They developed coping mechanisms to take care of large families on their own. Many also organised with others, either to fight the enemy, often in a non-violent way, or to establish and sustain a support network for the armed resistance.

'Xanana' Gusmão, the former resistance leader who spent most of the 1990s in prison in Indonesia for his part in the armed resistance, was chosen by an overwhelming majority during the presidential elections of April 2002 to be the country's first head of state. As political parties new and old vie for support, Timor Leste's ability to move on from the politics of the past will be tested.

East Timorese officials are still demanding negotiation over the unfair maritime boundaries that are in place with Australia and which were established during the illegal occupation of Indonesia. As a result of the current boundaries, which allow Australia to extract oil and gas in waters that are twice as close to Timor Leste, it is estimated that since 1999 Timor Leste has lost more than US$1 billion in revenue.

US military assistance to Indonesia was suspended in September 1999 as Indonesian troops and militia destroyed Timor Leste. But in February 2005 US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered the resumption of full international military education and training for the Indonesian military. This is despite the fact that the military continues to repress civilians throughout Indonesia, key military personnel involved in the atrocities in Timor Leste have not been brought to justice and Indonesia has not yet met the required conditions on transparency for its military budget.

Timor Leste has experienced instability since April 2006 when violence started during demonstrations against the sacking of 591 soldiers who had left their barracks to protest about discrimination. The demonstrations became violent and included fighting between government forces, rebel forces and the National Police in Dili. Allegations of government involvement and their inability to contain the situation lead to the resignation of government ministers including the Prime Minister and the Minister for Defence. Mr Jose Ramos Horta, joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 and the former Minister for Foreign Affairs was then appointed Prime Minister.

After a run-off second round, the election for the largely ceremonial presidency was won by Dr José Ramos Horta on 9 May with a landslide victory of 69% over the Fretilin candidate Francisco Guterres 'Lu-Olo' (with 31%). International and local elections observers said the largely peaceful elections 'reflected the wishes of the citizens of Timor-Leste' and Fretilin was quick to accept the result which prevented any backlash from its supporters.
 
Replacing the previous president Xanana Gusmao on 20 May, Ramos Horta immediately pledged to reform the bitterly divided military; strengthen the economy by fighting poverty and encouraging foreign investment; and unite the country. He will also try to maintain strong relations with his two powerful neighbours, Indonesia and Australia - although there is some bitterness over the division of oil revenues between Timor Leste and the Indonesia, and there are major issues of impunity for human rights abuses with Australia. However his power is limited as he is symbolic head of state and only has veto power over legislation passed by parliament.
 
Much will depend on the parliamentary elections to be held on 30 June as Ramos Horta will have to work with the incoming prime minister and parliament. Among the candidates for prime minister is Xanana Gusmao and if his CNRT (National Congress of  Timorese Reconstruction) party defeats Fretilin, then the president and prime minister are likely to work closely together.

An international military force has been deployed in Timor Leste to restore order and although large-scale rioting and violence has stopped, sporadic burning of houses and fighting are still ongoing. Such tensions mean that 100,000 displaced people remain in camps in or outside Dili. The new UN mission, UNMIT, will increase the UN police presence to 1,400 and provide support for government institutions, including the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May and June 2007 respectively.

Timor Leste has severe development needs and is the poorest nation in the region. According to the 2006 United Nations Development Programme Human Development Report: 80 out of 1,000 children die before their fifth birthday; female literacy is only 37%; life expectancy is only 56 years and Timor Leste is ranked overall as the 142nd poorest nation out of the world's 177 countries.