Dec 7, 1975: Indonesia invades East Timor





Early in the morning, Indonesian forces launch a massive invasion of the former Portuguese half of the island of Timor, which lies near Australia in the Timor Sea.

The Portuguese departed East Timor in August 1975, and Indonesian troops soon began infiltrating the border from Indonesian West Timor. On November 28, the democratically elected government of East Timor, fearing an imminent Indonesian invasion, proclaimed the Democratic Republic of East Timor.

On the morning of December 7, Indonesia responded by initiating a naval bombardment of the city of Dili, followed by landings of paratroopers from the air and of marines on the beaches. On December 10, a second invasion force captured the second largest city, Baucau. Elsewhere, East Timorese resistance continued, but by 1978 the annexation of East Timor by Indonesia was essentially complete.

During the initial years of the Indonesian invasion and occupation, more than 100,000 East Timorese died as a direct result of the conflict. Most of the dead were civilians killed by the military or starved to death in internment camps or while hiding in the hills from the Indonesian military. Small groups of East Timorese guerrillas continued their resistance for decades. In 1996, Jose Ramos-Horta and Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to win independence for East Timor.

Indonesian dictator Suharto, who had ordered the 1975 invasion, was ousted from power in 1998, and East Timorese renewed their calls for independence. In 1999, the people of East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum, leading to bloody attacks by Indonesian militia forces. An Australian-led U.N. peacekeeping force was deployed to stop the violence, and in August 2001 East Timor held its first democratic elections to establish an autonomous government.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...des-east-timor
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President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (far left) at an arrival ceremony in Jarkarta with Indonesian President Suharto, December 5, 1975


Washington, D.C., January 24, 2006 - The final report of East Timor's landmark Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) has found that U.S. "political and military support were fundamental to the Indonesian invasion and occupation" of East Timor from 1975 to 1999, according to the "Responsibility" chapter of the report posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive, which assisted the Commission with extensive documentation.

The Commission report, entitled "Chega!" ("Enough" in Portuguese), estimates that up to 180,000 East Timorese were killed by Indonesian troops or died of enforced starvation and other causes resulting from the occupation between 1975 and 1999. The "Responsibility" chapter details the primary role of the Indonesian military and security forces, as well as the supporting roles played by Australia, Portugal, the United States, the United Nations, the United Kingdom, and France.

The report (p. 92) finds that "U.S. supplied weaponry was crucial to Indonesia's capacity to intensify military operations from 1977 in its massive campaigns to destroy the Resistance in which aircraft supplied by the United States played a crucial role." Moreover, "U.S. Administration officials refused to admit that the primary reason that East Timorese were dying in their thousands was the security policies of the Indonesian military."

The CAVR used more than 1,000 formerly secret U.S. documents provided by the National Security Archive's Indonesia and East Timor Documentation Project, which published on the Web in November 2005 several of the key documents detailing U.S. support for the invasion and occupation of East Timor across five U.S. administrations.

The report (p. 92) notes that "In response to the massive violations that occurred in Timor-Leste in September 1999 President Clinton threw the considerable influence of the United States behind efforts to press the Indonesian Government to accept the deployment of an international force in the territory, demonstrating the considerable leverage that it could have exerted earlier had the will been there."

The National Security Archive obtained a copy of the chapter of the CAVR report titled "Responsibility and Accountability" from copies circulating in the international press, and posted the chapter today because East Timor's government has not yet put the full text of the truth commission report in the public domain or published its contents online, despite having delivered the report to the Timorese parliament in November and to the United Nations on January 20.

The CAVR's final report strongly criticizes the role of the international community in supporting Indonesia's invasion and occupation of East Timor, and recommends reparations from the governments of Indonesia, the U.S. and United Kingdom and from Western arms manufacturers who played crucial roles in supporting Indonesia's actions.
[url]http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB176/[/url]
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