Abstract
Portugal abandoned its former colony, with its largely Roman Catholic population, in 1975, when it was occupied by Indonesia and claimed as the province of Timor Timur. The UN did not recognize Indonesian sovereignty over the territory. An independence movement, the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN), maintained a guerrilla resistance to the Indonesian government which resulted in large-scale casualties and alleged atrocities. On 24 July 1998 Indonesia announced a withdrawal of troops from East Timor and an amnesty for some political prisoners, although no indication was given of how many of the estimated 12,000 troops and police would pull out. On 5 Aug. 1998 Indonesia and Portugal reached agreement on the outlines of an autonomy plan which would give the Timorese the right to self-government except in foreign affairs and defence.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Further Reading
Nevins, Joseph, A Not-So-Distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca (NY), 2005
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2006 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Turner, B. (2006). East Timor. In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook 2007. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271357_162
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230271357_162
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4039-9276-5
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-27135-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)