Missão das nações unidas no Timor leste

                                                                                             Gabriel Barzilai

                                                                                             Harvard Summerfuel 2013

                                                                                             Dr. Prisca Castanyer

                                                                                             International Relations

UN Intervention in East Timor

The United Nations, founded in 1945 by 51 nations after the Second World War, is a international organization composed by 193 member countries nowadays committed to try to maintain international order, promote social progress, better living standards and human rights. Therefore one of the most important aspects of the UN are the peacekeeping operations. The peacekeeping operations are a effective tool to provide security and the political peacebuilding support to help countries make the difficult, early transition from conflict to peace. Since 1948 there have been running 68 peacekeeping operations over 120 countries and in 11 june of 1999 the UN authorized the establishment of a peacekeeping operation in East Timor that was passing through a conflictual transition to independence,UNAMET ( United Nations Mission in East Timor).

        The East Timor is located in the eastern part of the island of Timor in Southeast Asia, bordering Indonesia. East Timor is one of the youngest countries in the world which was colonized by Portugal in the 16th century and was known as “Portuguese Timor” until 1975 when the country was decolonized and after several violent processes, motivated by Indonesia occupation in the country, East Timor gain its independence. The country has a population of one million habitants which are especially concentrated in the area around Dili (capital) that speak mostly Tetum and Portuguese, East Timor official languages.

        The development of the independence of East Timor began right after the decolonization of Portugal, when a civil war initiated in 1975 between the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, ( Fretilin) and the Timorese Democratic Union ( UDT), East Timorese political parties, as the UDT attempted a coup that Fretilin didn’t agree with, and so resisted with the help of a local Portuguese military. Fretilin, a party of Marxist ideals, emerged victorious of the Civil War and proclaimed independence on 28 November of the same year.The Indonesian government was fearful of an independent communist state within the Indonesian archipelago, and at the height of the Cold War, Western governments were supportive of Indonesia's position. The Indonesian military launched a full-scale invasion of East Timor in December 1975. Indonesia declared East Timor its 27th province on July 17, 1976 (Timor Timur). The UN Security Council refused to accept the invasion, thus the territory's nominal status in the UN remained "non-self-governing territory under Portuguese administration".

        Indonesia's occupation of East Timor was violent and brutal, causing approximately 18,600 killings and 84,200 additionals deaths from hunger and illness ( data from the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor). Therefore the East Timorese guerrilla force ( Falintil), fought against the harsh repression of the Indonesian government being suppressed by the use of tons of “Napalm” ( flammable liquid). However with Nelson Mandela’s visit to the Falintil revolutionary leader and the 1991 Dili Massacre there is an intensification of international pressure to the independence of East Timor.

        Thus, in 1999, Portugal and Indonesia began negotiating for the independence of East Timor. But while the referendum was not completed, militias backed by Indonesian troops began to intimidate the people of East Timor. Although threatened, 98% of Timorese went to the polls and of these, 78% voted for independence. However there was a unleashed  wave of violence by the militias to kill suspected people of supporting independence.Consequently, much of the Timorese population flees to the mountains and start to seek help in international organizations.