Word: indonesians
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Where in the World is East Timor? East Timor is a nation of some 800,000 inhabitants located on a small island on the southeastern tip of the Indonesian archipelago, 400 miles north of Australia. The western half of the island had been a Dutch colony, and was therefore part of what became independent Indonesia after World War II. But the eastern half, which had been ruled for three centuries by Portugal, was given its independence with the collapse of the Portuguese empire in 1975. Indonesia invaded the country in December of that year and annexed East Timor...
...cynical business. Back in December 1975, the U.S. gave Indonesia a nod and a wink to proceed with its invasion of the tiny country, whose Portuguese colonial administration had collapsed. In fact, President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had been in Jakarta the day before Indonesian troops went in. With South Vietnam having collapsed only eight months earlier, Washington wasn't about to see another Asian domino fall to the communists. The murder and mayhem wrought by the Indonesian forces may have been distasteful, but Indonesia had been the anchor of Western interests in Asia. So East...
After years of stubborn determination, Indonesia now wants to wash its hands of the mess it?s created in East Timor. As the anti-independence militiamen nurtured by elements of the Indonesian army continued their bloody rampage Thursday, Jakarta announced that it would accept having U.N. troops take over peacekeeping duties, a reversal of its strenuous opposition to the presence of any foreign troops. "Indonesia may think handing over the territory to U.N. peacekeepers will get Jakarta off the hook, but the international community has made clear that Indonesia will be held responsible for what happens in East Timor," says...
...independence referendum are expected within days, and the result is expected to be overwhelmingly in favor of autonomy for the former Portuguese colony seized by Indonesia in 1975. Violence by anti-independence militiamen is building to a frenzy, with attacks on civilians, U.N. officials and journalists unimpeded by the Indonesian police and troops charged with maintaining order, and it may take a force without vested interests to pacify the militias. "The U.N. would probably be prepared to send in a force in order to resolve this conflict," says Dowell. "While the U.S. may not be prepared to get involved, countries...
Indonesia says it will abide by the outcome of Monday?s U.N.-supervised independence referendum in East Timor, but the anti-independence militias nurtured by elements in the Indonesian army appear to have no such intentions. Having vowed to wage a guerrilla war if they lose the referendum, the militias on Tuesday continued attacking election officials and independence activists, and stopped pro-independence voters from leaving the territory. Unhindered by Indonesian police, thugs with guns and machetes simply marched into the airport at Dili, East Timor's capital, seized tickets and ordered those they deemed pro-independence...