Indonesian occupation of East Timor

Indonesian occupation of East Timor
Part of the Cold War (until 1991)
Date De facto: 7 December 1975 – 31 October 1999 (23 years, 10 months, 3 weeks and 3 days) De jure: 7 December 1975 – 20 May 2002 (26 years, 5 months, 1 week and 6 days) Location East Timor Result 1999 East Timorese crisis East Timor gains independence after an independence referendum votes to become an independent sovereign state Indonesia retains a strong influence in East Timor
Belligerents
Indonesia  Timor Timur	East Timorian Resistance Groups Fretilin (Falintil) CNRM (later CNRT) UDT
Commanders and leaders
Suharto B. J. Habibie Maraden Panggabean Mohammad Jusuf L. B. Moerdani Try Sutrisno Edi Sudrajat Feisal Tanjung Wiranto Dading Kalbuadi Prabowo Subianto José Abílio Osório Soares Eurico Guterres	Francisco Xavier do Amaral  Nicolau dos Reis Lobato † Mari Alkatiri Taur Matan Ruak Nino Konis Santana † Ma'huno Bulerek Karathayano  Xanana Gusmão  Rogério Lobato David Alex † Keri Laran Sabalae †
Strength
250,000 troops[1]	27,000 (1975)[2] 1,900 (1999)
Casualties and losses
2,277 soldier and police killed 1,527 Timorese militia killed 2,400 wounded Total: 3,408 killed and 2,400 wounded[3]	Estimates range from 100,000–300,000 dead (see below)

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The Indonesian occupation of East Timor began in December 1975 and lasted until October 1999. After centuries of Portuguese colonial rule in East Timor, the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Portugal led to the decolonisation of its former colonies, creating instability in East Timor and leaving its future uncertain. After a small-scale civil war, the pro-independence Fretilin declared victory in the capital city of Dili and declared an independent East Timor on 28 November 1975.

Following the "Balibo Declaration" that was signed by representatives of Apodeti, UDT, KOTA and the Trabalhista Party on 30 November 1975, Indonesian military forces invaded East Timor on 7 December 1975, and by 1979 they had all but destroyed the armed resistance to the occupation. On 17 July 1976, Indonesia formally annexed East Timor as its 27th province and declared the province of Timor Timur.

Immediately after the invasion, the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council passed resolutions condemning Indonesia's actions in East Timor and calling for its immediate withdrawal from the territory. Australia and Indonesia were the only nations in the world which recognised East Timor as a province of Indonesia, and soon afterwards they began negotiations to divide resources found in the Timor Gap. Other governments, including those of the United States, Japan, Canada and Malaysia, also supported the Indonesian government. The invasion of East Timor and the suppression of its independence movement, however, caused great harm to Indonesia's reputation and international credibility.^[4][5]

For twenty-four years, the Indonesian government subjected the people of East Timor to routine and systematic torture, sexual slavery, internment, forced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, massacres, and deliberate starvation.^[6] The 1991 Santa Cruz Massacre caused outrage around the world, and reports of other such killings were numerous. Resistance to Indonesian rule remained strong;^[7] in 1996 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to two men from East Timor, Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta, for their ongoing efforts to peacefully end the occupation. A 1999 vote to determine East Timor's future resulted in an overwhelming majority in favour of independence, and in 2002 East Timor became an independent nation. The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor estimated the number of deaths during the occupation from famine and violence to be between 90,800 and 202,600, including between 17,600 and 19,600 violent deaths or disappearances, out of a 1999 population of approximately 823,386. The truth commission held Indonesian forces responsible for about 70% of the violent killings.^[8][9][10]

After the 1999 vote for independence, paramilitary groups working with the Indonesian military undertook a final wave of violence during which most of the country's infrastructure was destroyed. The Australian-led International Force for East Timor restored order, and following the departure of Indonesian forces from East Timor, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor administered the territory for two years, establishing a Serious Crimes Unit to investigate and prosecute crimes committed in 1999. Its limited scope and the small number of sentences delivered by Indonesian courts have caused numerous observers to call for an international tribunal for East Timor.^[11][12]

Oxford University held an academic consensus calling the occupation of East Timor a genocide and Yale University teaches it as part of its Genocide Studies program.^[13][14]