Timor-Leste celebrates 25 years from independence vote

By Linda Bordoni 

Timorese Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and President Jose Ramos-Horta are both heroes of their country’s independence movement.

Xanana, who served as East Timor's first president after independence, led resistance against the brutal occupation and was imprisoned by Indonesia after he was captured in 1992, while Ramos-Horta, the country's de-facto foreign minister in exile, was jointly awarded the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to secure his country's independence.
 

In the past couple of days, they have welcomed a UN delegation and United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, who are in Dili to mark the occasion.

Speaking during an event on Friday, Guterres said, “Timor-Leste's independence was a gift to the world because it showed conflict could be resolved through negotiation.”

"We can never forget the courage of the Timorese resistance. By people who risked everything to see independence realised," he said, "But if Timor-Leste received a lot from the U.N., the truth is that it also gave a lot to the U.N. and the world (…) showing it is possible to resolve conflicts at the negotiating table."

The nation has evolved from a host country for peacekeeping forces to one that contributes personnel to U.N. peacekeeping missions, as it is doing in South Sudan, he noted.

The tiny-half island nation of Timor-Leste officially gained independence in 2002 after a landmark ballot overseen by the U.N. in 1999. More than 78% of Timorese chose independence at the time.

Pro-Jakarta militias went on a violent rampage following that vote, destroying infrastructure and killing about 1,000 people. Neighbouring Indonesia had invaded East Timor in 1975, occupying the country for more than two decades. Prior to the Indonesian occupation, the nation was ruled by colonial power Portugal.

"My presence in Timor-Leste, at the moment the country became independent, was undoubtedly one of the greatest privileges that my political life has given me," said Guterres, who was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002.

"Now, less than a generation later,” he added, “I stand here as witness to a nation at peace and in harmony with its neighbours. A thriving democracy."