1974

1February 22: In his book, Portugal and its future, General Spinola affirms that the problems of the colonies cannot be resolved by war.

2March 14: President Caetano relieves the generals Francisco da Costa Gomes and António de Spinola of their commands, as they are against colonial wars.

3April 25: The MFA (movement of armed Forces), initiated by the young officers of the Portuguese army, puts an end to the dictatorial regime of President Caetano during a movement known as the “Carnation Revolution”.

4May 11: Founding of the Timor Democratic Union (UDT) in Dili.

5May 15: General Spinola is proclaimed President of the Republic of Portugal.

6May 20: Founding of the social Democratic association of Timor (ASDT), in Dili.

7May 27: Founding of the pro-Indonesian party Apodeti (Popular and Democratic Association of Timor), in Dili.

8June 17: The Indonesian minister for Foreign affairs, Adam Malik, writes to the ASDT to assure it that Indonesia supports the process of East Timorese independence.

9August 16: The Indonesian General Ali Murtopo’s first visit to Lisbon.

10August 19: António de Almeida Santos, Portuguese minister for inter-territorial coordination, visits East Timor.

11September 6: In a meeting with President Suharto, the Australian Prime minister, Gough Whitlam declares that an independent East Timor would not be a viable state.

12September 12: The ASDT changes its name and becomes the revolutionary Front for the independence of East Timor (Fretilin).

13October 14: Second visit to Lisbon by General Ali Murtopo, chief of the Indonesian special operations (Opsus).

14November 18: Arrival of the Portuguese governor, Mário Lemos Pires, in East Timor.

15December 4: António de Almeida Santos, Portuguese minister for Interterritorial coordination, declares in the UN that there can only be two solutions for East Timor: maintaining a link with Portugal or integration with Indonesia.

1975

16January: Fretilin sets up its first literacy program classes.
–Beginning of the withdrawal of some Portuguese military troops.
–In a letter, Governor Mário Lemos Pires informs the President of the Portuguese Republic about the non-representation of Apodeti and the troubles caused by Indonesia. He suggests sending a UN interim force of fifty to one hundred persons.
–Formation of the first commissions for decolonization by Governor Limos Pires.

17January 21: UDT/Fretilin coalition on a program of total independence.

18March: Partial municipal elections by universal suffrage. Fretilin wins 55% of the seats, a little more than the UDT. Apodeti gets only a single seat.

19March 9: London conference between Portugal and Indonesia.

20May 27: Under pressure from the Indonesian information services (Bakin), the UDT withdraws from its coalition with Fretilin.

21June 3: First Indonesian military incursion in East Timor (in the Oecusse enclave).

22June 25: A Portuguese delegation meets Indonesian representatives in Hong Kong on the eve of the Macao conference.

23June 26–28: Macao conference, in which Fretilin does not participate. Portugal fixes a definite schedule for decolonization that plans for the election of a constituent assembly in october 1976 and the total transfer of sovereignty two years later.

24July 5: President Suharto’s visit to the United States. President Ford and secretary of state Kissinger say that they are willing to support the Indonesian stand.

25July 8: Breakdown of the coalition government in Lisbon. It marks the beginning of a period of political crisis which would last until November 25, 1975.

26July 17: Portuguese law on the decolonization of East Timor makes official the schedule finalized in June in Macao and “guarantee the independence of the territory”.

27End of July: Several members of the UDT go to Indonesia. Indonesian officials make it clear to them that they will never accept members of Fretilin in an East Timorese government.

28August 8: Demonstration and march in Dili of UDT representatives towards the Fretilin headquarters. The Portuguese police intervenes to avoid confrontation.

29August 11: Coup by the UDT, commanded by João Carrascalão. A civil war follows, lasting for three weeks and causing the death of fifteen hundred to three thousand persons.

30August 13: Major João soares, special envoy of the Portuguese government, is held up for two days at Bali by Indonesian authorities, who prevent him from going to Timor and force him to return to Lisbon.

31August 15: Lino da Silva, the commandant of the military company of Los Palos, joins forces with the UDT.

32August 18: The garrisons of Maubisse and Aileu join Fretilin. Formation of the armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor (Falintil).

33August 24: The Portuguese Presidency asks the UN to constitute a goodwill mission comprising Portugal, Indonesia, Australia, and at least one more country of the region.

34August 26: Governor Limos Pires takes refuge on the island of Atauro, off Dili.

35August 27: Twenty-three soldiers and three Portuguese civilians, authorized earlier to enter West Timor, are imprisoned by the Indonesian army.

36August 28: A Portuguese delegation led by António de Almeida Santos goes to Atauro, then to Jakarta. The Indonesian acting foreign affairs minister, Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, suggests that the delegation sign a memorandum in which Portugal would ask Indonesia to send a military force to “restore peace and order.”

37September 1: Fretilin has de facto control over the entire territory, except for the oecussi enclave, the island of Atauro, and some UDT pockets on the frontier.

38September 2: Portugal refuses to allow Indonesian troops to enter East Timorese territory and demands the release of the twenty-six Portuguese held in West Timor as a precondition for any future discussions.

39October 8: First Indonesian attacks on the border city of Batugade.

40October 14: Indonesian army attack on the city of Maliana.

41October 16: Attack on the city of Balibo. During the offensive the Indonesian army kills five Western journalists.

42November 1–2: In Rome (Italy), a conference between Portugal and Indonesia decides to bring together all the parties in Darwin at the end of November.

43November 24: Fretilin appeals to the UN, requesting an intervention force.

44November 25: Return of political stability in Portugal.

45November 27: The insistence by Indonesia that the proposed conference at Darwin be held instead in Bali leads to its cancellation.
–The Indonesian army seizes the city of Atabae, thereby opening the road to Dili.

46November 28: Fretilin unilaterally declares independence. Francisco Xavier do Amaral, the president of the party, becomes the first President of the Democratic Republic of East Timor.

47November 30: The Indonesian authorities get the UDT and Apodeti leaders who had taken shelter in West Timor to sign the “Balibo declaration”, demanding the integration of East Timor with Indonesia.

48December 4: Five members of the government designated by Fretilin— Mari Alkatiri, Abílio Araújo, Rogério Lobato, José Ramos Horta, and Roque Rodrigues—leave Timor to seek foreign support.

49December 5–6: President Ford and secretary of state Kissinger visit Jakarta.

50December 7: Invasion of East Timor by the Indonesian army.
– Lisbon denounces the Indonesian invasion and breaks off diplomatic ties with Jakarta.

51December 8: The last of the Portuguese colonial administrators leave the island of Atauro on board the ship Afonso Cerqueira.

52December 12: resolution 3485 of the UN General assembly, asking the Indonesian government “to stop violating the territorial integrity of Portuguese Timor and to withdraw its armed forces immediately from the territory.”

53December 16: Indonesia annexes the Oecusse enclave.

54December 22: The UN Security Council demands the immediate withdrawal of the Indonesian troops, “to enable the East Timorese to freely exercise their right to self-determination.”

1976

55January 13: Formation of a “provisional government” by Indonesia.

56January 18-19: Winspeare Guiccardi, the special envoy of the UN Secretary General, visits East Timor. His report, submitted on April 22, indicates that he could not meet the representatives of the resistance due to lack of cooperation from Indonesia and Australia.

57March 31: The Portuguese parliament adds an article (no. 389) to the national constitution, stipulating Portugal’s obligation to guarantee East Timor’s right to independence.

58April 3: The members of the UDT rise up against the Indonesian occupation army.

59April 22: Second resolution of the UN Security Council demanding the withdrawal of Indonesian troops.

60May 20: Fretilin holds a two-week national conference in the center of the territory to organize the resistance movement.

61May 31: Presentation of an “integration act” by the Indonesian government. The UN refuses to admit it as an internationally acceptable procedure.

62July 17: General Suharto proclaims the integration of East Timor with Indonesia, as its twenty-seventh “province”.

63July 28: Arrival in Lisbon of twenty-three Portuguese army personnel held as hostages by the Indonesian army since august 1975.

64September 29: The Australian government confiscates a radio transmitter which until then had helped Timorese refugees in Darwin communicate with the resistance.

65November 19: In an internal report, Indonesian observers declare that the death toll since the invasion could rise to one hundred thousand persons.
–The UN General Assembly, for the first time, asks for the organization of a referendum on self-determination.

1977

66January 20: The government of Australia recognizes the de facto Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

67March 13: Hearing on East Timor in the American Congress. James Dunn (former Australian consul in Dili) presents his first conclusions on the magnitude of human tragedy.

68August 17: Beginning of the Indonesian military campaign “Encirclement and annihilation” (till march 1979).

69September 7: Dismissal of Francisco Xavier do Amaral by Fretilin.

70October 16: Nicolau Lobato is elected as the president of Fretilin.

71November 28: the UN General Assembly, for the second time, asks for the organization of a referendum on self-determination.

1978

72January 20: Andrew Peacock, minister for Foreign affairs in the Australian Liberal government, confirms the stand of the previous government, declaring that “it would be unrealistic to continue refusing to recognize de facto that East Timor is a part of Indonesia.”

73May 12: First records of forced sterilizations in East Timor.

74July 18: Brief visit of President Suharto to East Timor.

75August 30: the Indonesian army captures Francisco Xavier do Amaral, former president of Fretilin.

76September 7–9: Visits to East Timor organized for the benefit of journalists and foreign ambassadors. They express their shock at the extent of famine and mortality in the holding camps.

77November 20: The UN General Assembly, for the third time, demands the organization of a referendum on self-determination.

78November 22: Fall of the last pocket of East Timorese resistance on mount Matabean.

79December 15: The Labor government in Australia recognizes de jure the annexation of East Timor.

80December 31: The Indonesian army kills Nicolau Lobato, president of Fretilin and chief of the resistance.

1979

81January: Decision of the Indonesian military command to transfer all Portuguese lands to the Indonesian army.

82April 2: International Red Cross reports indicate that tens of thousands of Timorese are in danger of dying of hunger unless an aid program is quickly organized.

83October 19: General Suharto authorizes the international red Cross to set up an aid program restricted to sixty thousand beneficiaries. Foreign delegates reveal a health and food supply condition “as bad as that of Biafra and potentially as serious as that of Kampuchea.”

84November 12: During a visit to London with President Suharto, Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, the Indonesian minister for foreign affairs, declares that 120,000 persons have died in East Timor since 1975.

85December 13: The UN General Assembly, for the fourth time, demands the organization of a referendum on self-determination.

86December 25: The daily Times publishes information about the use of napalm by the Indonesian army in East Timor.

1980

87January 16: The Indonesian transmigration program designates East Timor as a destination for populations coming from the densely populated islands.

88February 6: The American Congress reproaches the US ambassador to Jakarta for not communicating information about the magnitude of the famine in East Timor.

89June 10–11: Attack on Dili by Fretilin damages the new broadcasting station set up by the Indonesian authorities.

90November 11: The UN General Assembly, for the fifth time, demands the organization of a referendum on self-determination.

1981

91March 1–8: The resistance, led from now on by Xanana Gusmão, organizes a conference for the reorganization of the country and the constitution of the revolutionary Council of National resistance (CRRN).

92April 15: In spite of a new famine, the Indonesian administration prevents the international Red Cross from continuing its activities in East Timor.

93June 3: In a report meant for President Suharto, the members of the provincial parliament established by the Indonesian authorities complain of extortions committed, as well as the monopolization of sectors of the economy by the army.

94July 20: Amnesty International expresses its concern after the revelation of military instruction manuals stolen from East Timor suggesting torture as a means for obtaining information.

95July 31: The Timorese clergy publishes Reflection on Faith, which discusses the humiliation and the suffering of the population.

96August 19: Beginning of the operation Pagar Betis, or “Fence-of-legs.”

97September: Four hundred to five hundred East Timorese are killed by the Indonesian army at St. Antony, near Lacluta.

98October: After the Indonesian administration bans the use of Portuguese, the Vatican approves the decision of the East Timorese clergy to use tetum (the vernacular of the eastern part of the island) rather than Indonesian during services.

99October 24: The UN General Assembly, for the sixth time, demands the organization of a referendum on self-determination.

100October 26: The Australian Parliament decides to conduct an enquiry on the situation in East Timor.

1982

101January 11: The Australian press publishes an appeal by the East Timorese clergy revealing that half the population is threatened with famine.

102April 14: After an interruption of one year, the International Red Cross obtains authorization to work once again in East Timor.

103May 4: During the first elections organized by Indonesia in East Timor as a part of the national parliamentary elections, General Suharto’s Golkar party obtains 99.43% of the votes, which hardly convinces the international community.

104May 16: Pope John Paul II refuses to include the diocese of Dili in the conference of Indonesian bishops.

105May 18–28: Visit of a group of Western journalists highlights the magnitude of the problems of undernourishment in East Timor.

106June 10: the Portuguese president, Antonio dos Santos Ranalho Eanes, makes the East Timorese cause one of his priorities.

107October 13: Mgr da Costa Lopes, the apostolic administrator of Dili, denounces the massacre of Lacluta (September 1981) in a sermon, incurring the wrath of the Indonesian army.

108November 3: The UN General Assembly, for the seventh time, demands the organization of a referendum on self-determination in East Timor.

1983

109February 7–12: Portuguese journalist Rui Araujo visits East Timor with the permission of the Indonesian government. In spite of the fact that the tour was prepared by the army, his photographs show the pathetic situation in which the Timorese live.

110February 16: The UN Human rights Commission condemns the violence in Timor and demands the implementation of the process of self-determination.

111March 21–23: Negotiations between the occupying Indonesian army and the East Timorese resistance (Xanana Gusmão). Declaration of cease-fire.

112May 16: Indonesia obtains from the Vatican the resignation of the apostolic administrator Martinho da Costa Lopes. His successor, Mgr Carlos Felipe Belo, a Timorese who had agreed to adopt Indonesian nationality, is poorly received at first. He would reveal himself to be a fervent defender of the rights of the Timorese.

113May 23: A report by the Center for Defence information in the USA estimates 250,000 deaths in East Timor since the Indonesian invasion in 1975.

114July 29: One hundred and seventy European parliamentarians launch an appeal for the right of the East Timorese people to self-determination.

115August 17: the Indonesian army calls off the cease-fire. General Benny murdani, commander in chief of the Indonesian armed forces, declares that the Timorese resistance would be crushed “mercilessly.”

116August 21: Execution of nearly a thousand civilians in the village of Kraras near Viqueque.

117September 9: The Indonesian government decrees a state of emergency in East Timor.

118September 14: President Suharto demands the launching of a new military operation (operasi Persatuan: “operation Unity”).

119September 23: Even though Indonesia has been occupying East Timor for eight years, the UN General assembly defers its vote for the year 1983 and asks the Secretary General to ensure the dossier is followed up.

120October 13: Mgr Belo preaches against the arrests and violence, and declares that Indonesia ought to bring books and food to East Timor rather than arms.

121November 13: The Indonesian Episcopal Conference (MAWI), previously very reserved, declares its support for the Timorese people, “victims of cruel sufferings.”

1984

122January: serious food shortages caused by the military campaigns launched since 1983.

123February 21: The UN Human rights Commission grants an audience to Martinho da Costa Lopes, former apostolic administrator of Dili, and denounces the actions of Indonesia.

124March 16: The International Red Cross is authorized to visit prisoners in Dili but not to bring them humanitarian aid.

125March 20: The “governor,” Mário Carrascalão, admits that there are still at least two thousand political prisoners on the island of Atauro, off the coast of Dili, but that they would not be released as long as “the situation is not calm.”

126March 25: Fretilin proposes a peace plan.

127July 21: The Portuguese President, António dos Santos Ramalho Eanes, and the Prime minister, Mário Soares, make a common declaration reminding the Portuguese government of its duty to guarantee the inalienable right of the East Timorese people to self-determination.

128December 17: The commander in chief of the Indonesian armed forces, General Benny Murdani, acknowledges that the East Timorese conflict “will take time to be resolved.”

1985

129January 5: The Indonesian government announces the introduction of a major family planning program, funded by the World Bank, concerning ninety-five thousand East Timorese women, or more than 60 percent of the women of procreative age.

130March 15: Under pressure from Indonesia, the UN Human rights Commission withdraws the question of Timor from its agenda.

131May 8: One hundred and thirty-one members of the American Congress address a letter to President Ronald Reagan before his visit to Portugal, expressing their concern over the situation in East Timor.

132August 18: During a trip to Jakarta, the Australian Labor Prime minister robert Hawke reaffirms that his country recognizes the sovereignty of Indonesia over East Timor. Mr. Hawke had supported Timor’s right to self-determination when in opposition.

133September 14: Reports indicate that heavy bombing by the Indonesian air force had taken place in the eastern part of the territory.

134September 24: Indonesia and Portugal resume diplomatic ties.

135October 27: Negotiations begin between Australia and Indonesia over the sharing of petroleum resources in the Timor sea.

1986

136March 31: Formation of a new UDT/Fretilin coalition in Lisbon.

137April 17: Seventy Japanese parliamentarians send a letter to the UN secretary-general demanding the establishment of a process for self-determination in East Timor.

138July 10: The European Parliament passes a motion affirming the right of the East Timorese people to self-determination.

139October 20: Four East Timorese students attempt to take refuge in the Netherlands embassy in Jakarta.

140November: Fretilin reveals a new offensive involving more than fifty battalions (nearly twenty-five thousand men) in the eastern part of the territory.

1987

141April 13: The American Episcopal Conference denounces the Indonesian occupation and particularly the forced birth control campaigns.

142June 5: Forty members of the American Senate criticize the Indonesian occupation of East Timor in an open letter to the press.

143November 14: The Indonesian daily Jakarta Post reveals a new famine in the south of the country and indicates that thirty-eight thousand children are suffering from malnutrition.

144December: In a letter, Mgr Belo, the apostolic administrator of Dili, accuses the Indonesian army of regularly practicing torture.

1988

145February 18: The Indonesian government invites the Portuguese Parliament to send a delegation.

146May 3: The governments of the twelve countries of the European Community adopt a common resolution calling upon the UN secretary-general to work towards safeguarding the rights of the East Timorese people.

147June 20: Mário Carrascalão, the governor appointed by Indonesia, asks President Suharto to open the territory closed by the army for more than twelve years.

148September 15: The European Parliament asks for the withdrawal of the Indonesian troops and the enforcing of the right of the East Timorese to selfdetermination.

149October 30: Two hundred and twenty-nine American congressmen and senators express their concern over the use of torture and arbitrary imprisonment in East Timor.

150November 2–3: President Suharto’s visit to East Timor and the announcement of a “partial opening-up” of the territory.

151December 31: Attack by Fretilin in the suburbs of Dili, causing the death of eighty-four Indonesian soldiers.

1989

152January 1: Eight of the thirteen districts of East Timor are declared “open” to foreigners by President Suharto. More than half of the territory remains under the exclusive control of the Indonesian army.

153February 6: Mgr Belo, bishop of Dili, writes to the UN secretary-general asking for the organization of a referendum on self-determination.

154April 26: During a meeting with General Suharto, the American Vice-President, Dan Quayle, broaches the question of “repressive practices” in East Timor.

155June 9: One hundred and eighteen members of the American Congress write to President George Bush, asking him to take up the East Timor problem during President Suharto’s visit to the USA.

156August 5: Mário Carrascalão presents a report before the Indonesian assembly. He declares in particular that the illiteracy rate has touched 92% and that more than a third of the subdistricts do not have even a single doctor.

157August 25: The UN sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of minorities advises the Human rights Commission to continue its supervision of the situation in East Timor.

158October 5: Xanana Gusmão presents a peace plan foreseeing independence after a period of administrative supervision under the control of Indonesia and then of the UN.

159October 12: Pope John Paul II’s visit to Dili. The demonstrations result in the arrest of forty people.

160December 11: Indonesia and Australia sign a “provisional agreement of cooperation” for jointly exploiting the hydrocarbon resources in the Timor Sea.

161December 17: One hundred members of the American Congress ask the state Department to carry out an inquiry into the torture of the people arrested after the visit of Pope John Paul II.

1990

162January 17: Demonstrations are severely repressed on the occasion of the visit to Dili of John Monjo, the American ambassador to Indonesia.

163March: New Indonesian military offensive with forty thousand soldiers.

164April 19: Cancellation of a colloquium in Yogyakarta (Java) during which a team of researchers from the University of Gadjah Mada was to present the East Timorese situation.

165August 17: School children brandish the Fretilin flag at Dili during the Indonesian national festival.

166September 4: Protest demonstration on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of the diocese of Dili.

167September 27: The Australian journalist Robert Domm manages to interview Xanana Gusmão. This first contact with the foreign press after fifteen years of military occupation reopens the debate on the Timorese problem and incites pro-independence demonstrations in Dili

168October: Appearance of “ninjas” in Dili, these masked paramilitary groups, which carry out nocturnal attacks against separatists.

169October 15: The police fire on the students of the San Paulus Grammar school in Dili. Three deaths, three wounded, and around forty arrested.

1991

170February 9: Indonesia and Australia sign a joint treaty of exploitation of oil resources in the Timor Sea, confirming the provisional agreement of December 1989.

171February 22: Portugal lodges a complaint against Australia at the international Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague for having signed a treaty with Indonesia on East Timor (Portugal could not summon Indonesia, which does not recognize the ICJ).

172March 11–12: During a visit to Jakarta, the Japanese deputy Minister for Foreign affairs takes up the question of human rights in East Timor.

173March 13: Amnesty international denounces the arrest of six East Timorese students in Bali.

174June 1: Indonesia promulgates a decree prohibiting “foreigners” from owning land in East Timor. Its aim is to force the natives to give up their Portuguese nationality. They are given until May 31, 1992, to become Indonesian or be expropriated.

175June 28: The Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council asks the Indonesian government to withdraw its troops from East Timor as a precondition to the process of self-determination. it asks the member states to stop the sale of military equipment to Indonesia.

176September 13: An agreement signed between Portugal and Indonesia paves the way for the visit of a delegation of Portuguese parliamentarians to East Timor.

177October 25: the Portuguese Parliament suspends the proposed visit to Timor (from November 4–16) due to numerous conditions imposed by Indonesia.

178November 12: The Indonesian army opens fire on a crowd of about 3,500 persons in the neighborhood of the cemetery of Santa Cruz at Dili. Video pictures taken by journalist Max Stahl and telecast over Western channels result in the suspension of financial aid from several countries (Canada, Denmark, and the Netherlands). American military aid is also stopped. The first official Indonesian assessment is nineteen deaths and ninety-one injured, whereas the Timorese claim more than two hundred deaths and the disappearance of many people.

179November 19: As protest against the shooting at Santa Cruz, seventy East Timorese students demonstrate in Jakarta and are arrested.

180November 23: A council of students from 10 Indonesian universities asks the government to withdraw the troops from East Timor and to allow the East Timorese people to exercise their right to self-determination.

181November 28: In response to pressure from the international community, President Suharto appoints a national commission of enquiry, which goes to Dili at the end of November. The new official estimate figuring in its report submitted on December 26, 1991, indicates “about fifty deaths,” but, except for eighteen tombs, the bodies remain untraceable. Amnesty International, for its part, furnishes a list of names of 271 dead, 382 wounded, and 250 disappeared.

182December 19: Arrest of East Timorese students who came to present to several diplomatic chancelleries in Jakarta (the UN, Australia, and Japan) their petitions against the action of the Indonesian army in the territory.

1992

183January 22: The ferry Lusitania Expresso, baptized the “ship of peace,” leaves Lisbon for East Timor to lay floral tributes on the tombs of those killed in santa Cruz.

184January 28: Pieter Kooijmans, special reporter of the UN on torture, points out that the practice of torture by the Indonesian police might be routine in certain regions, including East Timor.

185March 11: The ferry Lusitania Expresso approaches East Timorese territorial waters carrying on board 120 persons of twenty-one nationalities, with the former Portuguese President, General Ramalho Eanes, amongst them. The Indonesian navy forces it to turn back.

186March 12: In Dili, beginning of the trial of the East Timorese students who demonstrated against the Santa Cruz massacres. They are convicted, with sentences ranging from six years to life imprisonment. On May 29, a courtmartial tries two Indonesian soldiers and eight non-commissioned officers for “indiscipline” during the Santa Cruz shooting. The sentences handed down would not exceed eighteen months’ imprisonment.

187May 2: Two Indonesian lawyers appointed to defend the East Timorese political prisoners challenge the legality of the procedure, arguing that the Indonesian criminal code is not applicable as East Timor was not legally integrated with Indonesia.

188June 25: The American Congress withdraws from the federal budget two million dollars of military aid meant for Indonesia.

189July 16: In the United Kingdom, the House of Lords demands the enforcement of an embargo on the sale of arms to Indonesia, the suspension of economic aid, and of training programs for Indonesian officers.

190July 20: Portugal blocks the signing of an agreement between the European Community and ASEAN, citing the violations of human rights in East Timor.

191August 27: The UN sub-Commission for the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of minorities “deplores the tragic events of November 12, 1991,” “expresses its concern over continuing violation of Human rights in East Timor,” and asks Indonesia to provide immediately information about the missing persons.

192November 20: Capture of Xanana Gusmão by the Indonesian army.

193December 17: Meeting in New York of the Portuguese and Indonesian ministers for Foreign affairs, under the aegis of the UN. The exact contents of the discussions are not divulged.

1993

194February–May: Trial of Xanana Gusmão organized by the Indonesian judiciary in Dili. The judges refuse to listen to his plea and sentence him to solitary confinement for life (May 21). The international commission of jurists present during part of the sessions declares in its report that this trial “did not take place according to international rules and had even violated the provisions of the Indonesian Penal Code.”

195March 10: The UN Human rights Commission expresses its concern about the activities of Indonesia in East Timor and asks Jakarta to invite special reporters to examine the situation in the territory.

196April 21: Talks between Portugal and Indonesia under the aegis of the UN in Rome.

197June 22: The International Red Cross Committee deplores the “continuing difficulties” caused by the Indonesian administration resulting in obstructing visits to East Timorese prisoners.

198July: General Suharto commutes the prison sentence of Xanana Gusmão to twenty years of solitary confinement.

199September 17: Negotiations in New York between the Portuguese and Indonesian ministers for foreign affairs, Durao Barroso and Ali Alatas.

200November 4: The Norwegian Thorolf Rafto Human rights Prize is awarded to the East Timorese people.

1994

201February: The American state Department places Indonesia on its “black list” of countries that do not respect human rights, along with Burma, China, North Korea, Zaire, etc.

202April 15: Abílio Osório Soares, appointed governor of East Timor in 1992 admits before foreign journalists to the figure of two hundred thousand East Timorese victims since 1975.

203May 31–June 4: Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Coalition for East Timor in manila.

204July 31: Mgr Belo denounces in an open letter “the excessive controls, executions, torture, arrests and arbitrary detentions, particularly by extrajudiciary institutions.”

205September 15: the Indonesian foreign affairs minister, Ali Alatas, who had declared that East Timor was a “pebble in Indonesia’s shoes,” mentions before the parliament the possibility of granting a “special status” to the territory.

206October 8: First meeting between Ali Alatas, the Indonesian Foreign affairs minister, and José Ramos Horta, the CNRT representative.

207October 27: The Federal Court of Boston orders the Indonesian general Sintong Panjaitan to pay fourteen million dollars to the mother of the young New Zealander Kamal Bamadhaj, killed during the shooting at Santa Cruz in November 1991.

208November 12: East Timorese demonstration on the occasion of an APEC meeting in Indonesia. Twenty-nine East Timorese students take refuge in the US Embassy in Jakarta. Eighty others are “reported missing.”

209November 12–14: Nearly a thousand young Timorese challenge the police in Dili.

1995

210January 1: During a demonstration in Baucau, the army kills three Timorese.

211January 13: The special UN reporter on extrajudiciary executions submits his report on the 1991 events of Santa Cruz. He concludes that the shooting of November 12 was “the consequence of a planned military operation against unarmed civilians demonstrating their political disagreement.”

212June 2–5: First round of negotiations among the different members of the East Timorese diaspora at Burg Schlaining (Austria).

213June 30: The international Court of Justice declares itself incompetent to take up the case brought up by Portugal against Australia in February 1991 regarding the agreement with Indonesia on oil resources in the Timor sea.

214July 9: Negotiations between the Portuguese and Indonesian foreign Affairs ministers in Geneva under the aegis of the UN.

215September 1: The Indonesian army opens fire on the people of a hamlet near Baucau, resulting in three deaths.

216September–October: Confrontations between East Timorese and migrants, leading to the destruction of seven mosques and two Protestant churches.

217December 18: Australia and Indonesia sign a defense agreement.

1996

218Early January: In a report on the East Timor situation, Amnesty International indicates that at least thirteen summary executions of civilians took place in 1995 and reports numerous cases of inhuman treatment, torture, and rape.

219January 16: Negotiations between the Portuguese and the Indonesian foreign affairs ministers in London under the aegis of the UN.

220January 24: The Indonesian Commission of Human rights opens a representative office in Dili.

221February 29: The Portuguese Prime minister, António Gutteres, meets President Suharto and asks for the release of Xanana Gusmão.

222March 19–22: Second round of the talks begun in June 1995 among the groups of the East Timorese diaspora at Burg Schlaining (Austria).

223October 11: The Nobel Peace Prize is jointly awarded to mgr Carlos Filipe Ximimes Belo, bishop of Dili, and José Ramos Horta, the overseas representative of the East Timorese resistance.

1997

224March 19: The East Timorese priest Basílio do Nascinento is appointed bishop of Baucau by the Vatican.

225April 2: Opening of a new Catholic radio station, the first means of independent communication authorized by the Indonesian administration in twenty-one years of occupation.

226April 16: A resolution of the Human rights Commission of the UN condemns the repeated Indonesian excesses and asks Jakarta to allow its special rapporteur on torture to visit East Timor once again.

227June 27: Capture and execution of David Alex, the vice commandant of Falintil.

228July 15: During his visit to Indonesia, Nelson Mandela, the South African president, openly demands a meeting with Xanana Gusmão. He declares that the release of the latter is indispensable for solving the Timorese problem.

229August: The Asian crisis hits Indonesia hard. The crash of the rupiah and the bankruptcy of some fifteen banks push two-thirds of the population below the poverty line.

230October: Manuel Carrascalão launches the movement for the reconciliation and the Unity of the People of Timor (GRPRTT).

231November 7: A report on the violence committed on the Timorese is submitted to the special UN rapporteur on violence against women.

1998

232March: General Suharto, in power since 1965, is re-elected for a seventh presidential term.

233April 23–27: National Timorese convention in Lisbon. The CNRM becomes CNRT (National Council of Timorese Resistance), whose president and vice president are respectively Xanana Gusmão (in prison in Indonesia) and José Ramos Horta.

234May 21: General Suharto is forced to resign. His Vice-President, Jusuf Habibie, replaces him.

235May 26: Two Indonesian human rights militants, Muchtar Pakpahan and Sri Bintang Pamungkas, express their support to Xanana Gusmão.

236June 9: Three weeks after coming to power, President Habibie declares his intention of proposing a special status for East Timor.

237June 15: Demonstration by fifteen thousand students in Dili demanding a referendum on self-determination and the release of Xanana Gusmão. Between June 15 and mid-July, sixty-five thousand Indonesians leave the territory.

238August 5: Fresh rounds of talks between Portugal and Indonesia.

239August 12: Two Indonesian officers, major General Damiri and Colonel Tono Suratman, ask the Timorese militia leaders whom they had trained to organize themselves “for protecting integration.”

240August 21: Xanana Gusmão rejects the proposal for autonomy by the Indonesian government.

241October 11: Thirty thousand persons attend a march in Dili, demanding the resignation of the pro-Indonesian governor, Abílio Osório Soares.

242November 2: Mgr Belo, bishop of Dili and Nobel Peace Prize winner, asks that Xanana Gusmão be included in the talks on the future of East Timor.

243November 20: The UN secretary-general expresses his concern about the mounting violence. The talks between Lisbon and Jakarta are suspended.

244December 31: The Indonesian government frees sixty-two political prisoners, of whom twenty-six are Timorese, but continues to hold Xanana Gusmão prisoner.

1999

245Early January: Several cases of missing persons, torture, and assassination are reported by organizations defending human rights.

246January 14: The European Parliament condemns the repression of East Timorese civilians. it asks the Indonesian government to withdraw its troops and free the political prisoners.

247January 27: The Indonesian president, B.J. Habibie, declares that he will ask the parliament (MPR) to grant independence to East Timor if it rejects the proposal of autonomy which he intends offering it.

248February 14: General Sudjarat, spokesman of the Indonesian armed forces, admits that the army supplies arms to the militia “for protecting the civilians from the Fretilin guerrillas.”

249February 18: The international Red Cross Committee asks the Indonesian government to disarm the militia.

250February 22: General Wiranto, commander in chief of the Indonesian armed forces, declares that he would continue deploying the militia “to help the police maintain security.”

251April 5–6: Sixty-two dead and fourteen missing after an attack on the Liquiça church by the militia supported by the Indonesian army.

252April 17: The UN secretary-general deplores the “apparent incapability of the Indonesian army to control violence and protect the population.”

253April 24: During a meeting with an Australian delegation, President Habibie admits his inability to disarm the militia.

254May 5: Portugal, the UN, and Indonesia sign an agreement that defines the main modalities of the “popular consultation” slated for August 8, 1999.

255May 28: The Justice and Peace Commission reports that the militia are in the process of drawing up a list of separatist leaders with the help of the Indonesian intelligence services.

256June 1: Arrival in Dili of Ian martin, the new representative of the UN secretary-general on the East Timor issue.

257June 11: The UN Security Council establishes UNAMET to supervise the referendum.

258July 8: Mary Robinson, the UN human rights high commissioner, declares that she is worried about the attacks against the UN personnel by armed militia.

259July 14: General Wiranto, commander in chief of the Indonesian armed forces, refuses an interim force of the UN.

260July 16: After several delays due to violence, enrolment on the electoral rolls for the referendum finally begins (up to august 4). The total number of voters rises to 451,792, of whom 438,000 are in East Timor.

261August 19: Ian martin, the representative of the UN Secretary General for East Timor, demands the withdrawal of the Indonesian officers actively involved with the militia.

262August 26: The UN Security Council extends the term of UNAMET to November 30, 1999.

263August 28: Ali Alatas, Indonesian foreign affairs minister, rejects the proposal of sending a peacekeeping force.

264August 30: The day of the referendum. More than 97% of the East Timorese vote.

265August 31: The militia attack several cities. Three Timorese members of the UNAMET team are killed.
—Ali Alatas, the Indonesian foreign affairs minister, lauds the manner in which the referendum was conducted.

266September 3: General Wiranto announces that in order to be prepared for “any possible circumstances,” two thousand soldiers had been sent to East Timor.

267September 4: Official announcement of the results: 344,580 East Timorese (that is, 78.5% of the population) had voted in favor of independence. Violence provoked by the militia and the Indonesian army obliges all the UN personnel to take shelter in Dili.

268September 6: President Habibie declares martial law in East Timor. Numerous massacres are reported in the days that follow. The Indonesian army organizes the displacement, often under pressure, of three hundred thousand East Timorese to West Timor and the neighboring islands.

269September 8: The Indonesian Human rights Commission condemns the incidents of violence and admits the involvement of the peacekeeping force of Indonesia.

270September 9: The UN Secretary General decides to repatriate his officers to Australia. Some of them refuse to leave the territory.

271September 10: American president Bill Clinton declares that the involvement of the Indonesian army with the militia is “not acceptable” and demands the suspension of military relations with Indonesia.

272September 12: The UN Security Council firmly condemns Indonesian action in East Timor. The Indonesian government accepts the sending of a peacekeeping force.

273September 14: the European Union bans the sale of arms to Indonesia.

274September 15: The UN Security Council approves the deployment of INTERFET, an international intervention force placed under Australian command.

275September 17: The Indonesian army begins its withdrawal from East Timor.

276September 21: the Indonesian Battalion 745 causes severe destruction and the death of a Dutch journalist during its withdrawal.

277September 27: Faced with great destruction and numerous victims, the UN High Commission for Refugees (HCR) demands the setting up of an international commission of inquiry.

278October 3: INTERFET strengthens the western frontier.

279October 8: Beginning of the return of displaced people to East Timor.

280October 18: The Indonesian Assembly (MPR) officially recognizes the results of the referendum of august 30, 1999, and cancels the text of July 15, 1976, concerning the integration of East Timor.

281October 19: The governor of the Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Timur (including West Timor) declares that 284,414 “refugees” are at present in his territory.

282October 20: The Indonesian parliament elects Abdurahman Wahid as president of the republic.

283October 25: The Security Council sets up a provisional administration, UNTAET, placed under the direction of the Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello, who consults an East Timorese advisory national council (CN).

284December 17: the sponsors meet in Tokyo. Five hundred million dollars are released for reconstructing East Timor.

2000

285January 12: Signing of a memorandum between UNTAET and the Indonesian army on the administration of the frontier between the two countries.

286January 22: The American dollar is chosen as the temporary currency of the country, without excluding the possibility of creating a national currency in the future.

287January 31: The Indonesian Commission on the Violation of Human rights in East Timor, formed in 1999, submits its report. It lists in detail extortions, lays emphasis on the responsibility of the Indonesian army. The commission declares that the facts reveal crimes against humanity and demands the constitution of an international tribunal.

288February 12: Visit of the Portuguese president, Jorge Sampaio, to East Timor.

289February 29: Visit of the Indonesian president, Abdurahman Wahid, to East Timor. He apologizes to the East Timorese people for all that happened in the past.

290September 6: In West Timor, an attack on the office of the high commissioner for refugees by pro-Indonesian militia leads to the death of three UN personnel.

291December 11: First indictments for crimes against humanity by the Dili Court of Justice, under the aegis of the UN, for acts committed in 1999 by the militia and the Indonesian army.

2001

292February 1: Dissolution of Falintil and the founding of the FDTL (Force for the Defence of East Timor).

293March 16: Decree of UNTAET for the election of a constituent assembly, and beginning of registration of voters (up to June 23).

294March 19: Xanana Gusmão dissolves the common platform of the CNRT in order to allow free competition among the parties.

295March 29: Following a difference of opinion over the modalities of consulting the population for drawing up the constitution, Xanana Gusmão resigns from the national advisory council established by UNTAET.

296April 9: Manuel Carrascalão is elected as the head of the National Council.

297April 23: The Indonesian government establishes an ad hoc court in Jakarta (keppress 53/2001) for the trial of crimes committed after the referendum of august 30, 1999.

298May 1: Eurico Guterres, one of the principal pro-Indonesian militia leaders, is sentenced to six months imprisonment by the ad hoc Indonesian tribunal for crimes committed in East Timor. He is freed after three weeks in detention.

299July 6: Renegotiations with Australia over the agreement on petroleum resources in the Timor Sea. East Timor obtains 90% of the royalties of the central zone, which is the most promising.

300July 8: National unity pact among all political factions in East Timor for the election of the constituent assembly.

301July 13: UNTAET establishes (decision 2001/10) a Commission for reception, truth and reconciliation (CRTR/CAVR), whose purpose is to throw light on the events that happened from April 1974 to October 1999.

302July 23: Abdurahman Wahid is forced to step down from the post of president of the republic in favor of his vice president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the first president of the republic.
– East Timor is granted permission to be an observer at the ASEAN inter-ministerial conference held in Hanoi.

303August 30: Elections for the constituent assembly in East Timor, with a participation rate of 94 percent of the enrolled voters. Fretilin wins 57.4% of the vote.

304October 22: Announcement by the Japanese government that it has sent a battalion of six hundred engineers from the Japanese self-Defense Force arouses intense agitation in East Timor.

2002

305January 15: Megawati Sukarnoputri, the Indonesian president, appoints an ad hoc court of justice for the crimes committed in East Timor. Its jurisdiction is limited to the extortions occurring between April and September 1999 in three of the thirteen districts of the territory.

306January16: Mgr Belo, bishop of Dili, warns the population of the risk of yielding to the mentality of living on aid due to the easy money available from UN subsidies.

307February 26: First trilateral meeting of the representatives of the governments of East Timor, Indonesia, and Australia.

308February 28: The authorities of East Timor and Indonesia sign an agreement on the demarcation of their common frontier.

309March 22: adoption of the national constitution.

310May 20: independence of East Timor.

311July 23–24: East Timor joins the international monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Asia Development Bank (ADB).

312July 12: East Timor seeks the United Nations least developed country status.

313July 19: talks on the Greater sunrise gas field begin between East Timor and Australia.

314August 5: the Indonesian ad hoc Human rights Court on East Timor acquits six Indonesian military and police officers of charges of crimes against humanity committed in 1999, contrary to a wealth of well-documented evidence.

315September 27: the Democratic republic of East Timor gains membership in the UN.

316November 25: East Timorese security forces face antigovernment confrontation.

2003

317February 24: East Timor joins the Non-aligned movement as its one hundred and fifteenth member.

318March 4: The Indonesian government dismisses the prosecution of top Indonesian officials accused of committing crimes against humanity in East Timor.

319April 25: The UN Economic and social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) admits East Timor as its sixty-second member.

320May 20: The international Federation for East Timor (IFET) urges the UN Security Council to establish an international tribunal for the crimes against humanity committed in the territory from 1975 to 1999.

321June 6: East Timor becomes the one hundred and ninety-first country to sign up to the Geneva Conventions.

322September 15: Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri constitutes an eighteen-member national AIDS commission.

323September 20: The Asian athletics association (AAA) officially welcomes East Timor as its forty-fifth member.

324October 22: East Timor unionists end the nation’s first-ever strike after getting a 12.5% pay rise.

325November 10: East Timor introduces its own coins, which are expected to replace the US coins in use.

326December 18: During the truth and reconciliation Commission hearings, the last Portuguese governor, Mário Lemos Pires, publicly admits that Portugal failed to prepare the former territory for democracy.

2004

327January 20: The Indonesian military (TNI) says it will deploy troops to the disputed island of Batek, which is close to East Nusa Tenggara province and to the Oecusse enclave.

328March 7: Pope John Paul II appoints Alberto Ricardo da Silva to succeed Nobel Peace laureate, Bishop Belo, who stepped down for health reasons.

329March 24: Flooding hits East Timor, damaging hundreds of houses.

330May 16: East Timorese president Xanana Gusmão meets Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri in Bali to discuss bilateral relations and to try to settle past problems.

331May 28: UN peacekeepers start their withdrawal from East Timor after a mission lasting nearly five years. From about three thousand troops, the remaining contingent is down to about eighteen hundred soldiers.

332July 1: East Timor and Indonesia sign an accord over 90% of their land boundary.

333August 19: East Timor concedes sovereignty over disputed Batek island to Indonesia.

334September 14: announcement of the first results of the new national census. The population of East Timor is up to 924,642.

335September 29: During the UN General assembly’s annual meeting, East Timor’s foreign minister, José Ramos Horta, says that Indonesia deserves a seat on the Security Council.

336October 6: East Timor becomes the newest member of the ASEAN regional Forum, which brings together ministers from the ASEAN countries and their counterparts from the Asia and Western Pacific region.

337December 5–9: During a five-day visit to Washington, DC, President Xanana Gusmão meets US President George W. Bush at the White House.

2005

338January 17: East Timor and Portugal announce the signing of a future program on military and technical cooperation.

339January 20: Indonesia and East Timor form a “truth and Friendship” Commission.

340January 31: President Xanana Gusmão dismisses domestic criticism of Dili’s efforts to normalize relations with Indonesia.

341March 19: The first East Timorese commercial airline, Kakoak, launches its inaugural flight serving a route connecting Dili to Kupang.

342April 28: The UN Security Council unanimously adopts resolution 1599, establishing a one-year follow-on special political mission in East Timor, the United Nations office in East Timor (UNOTIL), which replaces UNMISET and will remain in East Timor until May 20, 2006.

343May 7: Three weeks of antigovernment demonstrations came to an end after Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and East Timor’s two Catholic bishops, Alberto Ricardo da Silva and Basílio do Nascimento, sign a negotiated joint declaration.

344May 19: the end of the United Nations peacekeeping operations in East Timor. a scaled-down UN presence remains, the staff reduced from 900 to about 275 military, police, and government advisers.

345June 13: Formal close of Australia’s six-year military presence since 1999.

346August 16: East Timor launches bidding round for petroleum exploration.

347October 31: Xanana Gusmão receives the final report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR). The report, released in December, estimates the minimum total number of conflict-related deaths during the period 1975-1999 is 102,800 and could be up to 183,000.

2006

348January 12: Australia and East Timor signed in Sydney a “Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea” (CMATS), establishing a 50-50 split of royalties from the Greater Sunrise gas field in the Timor Sea.

349February 8: A group of about 350 troops (of a total 1,800 FDTL troops) protest against discrimination and other grievances over working conditions in front of the presidential palace in Dili.

350February 10: An inquiry commission began hearings on the East Timorese soldiers who went AWOL to protest alleged discrimination and ill-treatment by commanders.

351February 22: East Timor military chief Matan Ruak indicates during a meeting with members of the bilateral Commission of Truth and Friendship in Dili that he wants to normalize military relations with Indonesia, despite unresolved human rights cases.

352March 17: Gastao Salsinha, the leader of the group of 593 East Timorese soldiers dismissed from the armed forces for going on strike appeals to President Xanana Gusmão to mediate in their row with the military leadership.

353April 8: World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz visits East Timor and says about the management of its oil revenues that the system in place is sound and can stand as something for a model for other countries, but that it remains an area for continued vigilance going forward.

354April 19: the Foreign Ministry José Ramos Horta declares that East Timor has received ASEAN’s blessing to sign a friendship and cooperation treaty with the Southeast Asian bloc.

355April 26: About 2,000 protesters held a demonstration in support of dismissed soldiers

356April 28: Hundreds of dismissed soldiers burns cars and shops in Dili, after the deadline of their threat to wage a guerrilla war if the government failed to resolve their dispute with the military leadership.

357May 4: Former military-police Major Alfredo Reinado joins the rebels

358May: Civil unrest, causing more than 20 dead, drives 100,000 people (65,000 around Dili) from their homes to emergency camps.

359May 13: UN Security Council unanimously approves a one-month extension of the UN mission in East Timor until June 20 and urged East-Timorese authorities to address the causes of the recent wave of violence in the territory.

360May 18: Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri is re-elected as head of East Timor's governing FRETILIN party, despite criticism about the April crisis.

361May 24: In response to ongoing clashes between the East Timor Defence Force (FDTL) and rebel soldiers and police, Xanana Gusmão and Mari Alkatiri ask the Australian government to send troops as part of an international force to restore security.

362May 26: 350 first Australian troops arrive in Dili, out of the 1,300 soldiers committed by Canberra for a peace keeping forces in East Timor. 500 are to come from Malaysia, 200 from Portugal and 100 from New Zealand.

363June 26: Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri steps down, as demanded by Xanana Gusmão, after the President threatened to resign.

364July 8: José Ramos Horta is appointed Prime Minister. He offers a weapons amnesty to prevent a repeat of communal clashes which left 21 dead and displaced 150,000 in April-May.

365August 25: The UN Security Council votes to authorize 1,600 international police and 34 military liaison officers for a follow-on mission in East Timor. The UN mission will support the government in the presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2007.

366August 30: Major Alfredo Reinado who had been arrested in Dili July 26 for detention illegal of weapon runs away of jail with fifty other prisoners

367September 26: Prime Minister José Ramos Horta meets several hundreds of petitioner soldiers and guarantees the maintenance of their salary so much that the investigation continues

368September 30: Timor-Leste establishes diplomatic relations with Myanmar

369October 12: Cambodia offers to send peace keeping forces to Timor-Leste

370October 27: Prime Minister José Ramos Horta meets pope Benedict XVI in Vatican and hands him an invitation of President Xanana Gusmão to visit Timor-Leste

371December 6: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appoints the Indian Atul Khare as Special UN Representative in Timor-Leste and chief of the UNMIT (620 staff of which 460 police forces)

2007

372January 12: During Cebu summit (The Philippines), ASEAN worries about unrest in Timor-Leste, but still consider that the country could join the association in three to five years.

373January 17: Prime Minister José Ramos Horta makes a public declaration supporting Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi

374January 26: Australia signs a tripartite agreement with Timor-Leste and UN for the coordination of the aid to the country

375February 22: The UN Security Council of the UNO extend for one year the international keeping force mandate

376March 4: Offensive by the Australian army in the region of Same against Major Reinado, chatty the death of four of his partisans but failing in capturing him

377May 20: José Ramos Horta becomes the new President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste

378June 30: Legislative elections. Fretilin gets the best result, but with only 29% of the votes. Xanana Gusmão leader of the CNRT (24%) forms a coalition with the other parties. Beginning of a new period of instability

379July 26: UN Secretary General refuses to recognize the bilateral commission of investigating on the crimes of 1999, established by Indonesia and Timor-Leste CTF (Commission for Truth and Friendship)

380July 31: Timor-Leste founds its first national park: Konis Santana (123,600 hectares of which 45% maritime) in the eastern part of the country

381August 1: ASEAN acknowledge the project of integrating Timor-Leste

382August 3: Former Minister of the Interior Rogerio Lobato is sentenced seven years and half of jail for having provided weapons to against the rebels

383August 8: After one month of negotiations, Xanana Gusmão is designated Prime Minister

384September 3: Portugal signs a four years agreement of cooperation for an amount of 60 millions of euros

385September 20: A delegation of Chinese businessmen announce more than 100 millions US $ investments for the next ten years

386November 24: the European Union announces the concession of 100 millions of dollars for the support in the farming zones in 2008

387December 14: Visit of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Timor-Leste—During a visit to Dili, Australian Prime minister announces that he will maintain the 780 soldiers force at least until the end of the year 2008

2008

388January 1: Extension of the TSDA mandate (Timor Sea Designated Authority) until June 30, 2008

389January 13: Meeting in Maubisse between President José Ramos Horta and the rebel Alfredo Reinado

390January 15: Signature of a principle agreement for a project of 100 millions of dollars with the company Indonesian GTLeste Biotech, for the plantation of 100,000 hectares of sugar cane to produce biofuel

391January 21: President José Ramos Horta meets Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican and discusses on the role of the Catholic Church in education, health and poverty alleviation

392January 29: China signs an agreement of cooperation with Timor-Leste for an amount of 1.4 billion US $ and announce the exemption of taxes for the East-Timorese products

393February 11: The rebels coordinated by Alfredo Reinado attack president José Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão. The wounded President is taken to Australia. Alfredo Reinado is killed in the assault of the presidential residence

394February 28: Six rebels led by the veteran Bernardo da Costa surrender to the East-Timoreses polices

395March 28-29: Meeting of the international donors to Timor-Leste in Dili.

396April 11: Discovery of new oil resources in Sea of Timor by the company Australian ENI in the zone of Kitan-1, to the East of Laminaria

397April 16: Timor-Leste signs an agreement with China to buy two patrol boats for an amount of 28 millions US $

398April 25: The leader rebels Gastão Salsinha surrenders to the authorities

399June 27: José Ramos Horta renounces to become UN High Commissioner for Human's Rights

400July 1: Establishment of the National authority of Oil (Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo-ANP), in replacement of the TSDA (Timor Sea Designated Authority)

401July 7: Demonstrations by students from ASUTIL (Timor-Leste University Students Solidarity Action) worrying about the rise of the price of basic products, the risks of budgetary drift and the threat constitute by biofuel projects on national food security

402July 11: Visit of the Brazilian President Lula da Silva who support the idea of cooperation notably in the domain of the biofuel

403July 13: East Timor’s President Jose Ramos Horta declares that he wants to grant amnesty to perpetrators of the violence that wracked the country in 2006.

404July 15: Indonesian and Timor-Leste Presidents receive CTF report acknowledging the “institutional responsibility” of Jakarta in the “crimes against the humanity” committed in 1999 in East-Timor that caused officially 1,400 victims. Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, made no formal apologies but expressed his “very deep regrets concerning facts that caused deaths and material damages”.

405July 22: The Singaporean airline company Austasia launches a weekly link to Dili.

406July 31: In a controversial context, the East-Timorese Parliament approves an exceptional increase of the budget for the year 2008, from 347.8 millions US $ initially foreseen to 773.3 millions.

407August 7: After a meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and José Ramos Horta, Chinese government scraps import duties on products imported from East Timor.

408August 8: United Nations and Timor-Leste’s Government launch a five-year programme to reduce poverty, consolidate democracy and provide basic social services for the people.

409September 8: Don Bosco Catholic School camp, the largest displacement camp in Dili (2,000 IDPs) starts to be dismantled.

410October 13: East Timor President, Jose Ramos-Horta, declares that he wants the United Nations to drop its investigation into bloodshed surrounding a 1999 independence vote from Indonesia.

411October 14: East Timor government signs a deal allowing South Korea to import gas from Greater Sunrise gasfield by 2013.

412October 23: India agrees to train East Timor Navy personnel.

413November 13: In response to a case brought by 16 Members of Parliament, three judges of the Timor-Leste Appeals Court issue a unanimous ruling regarding the $ 788 million mid-year budget, and invalidate State budget which had been passed by Parliament and promulgated on 5 August 2008.

414November 20: New Zealand defence minister Wayne Mapp declares that peacekeeping troops will stay in Timor-Leste for as long as necessary.

415December 6: During a two day visit to Portugal, East Timor PM Xanana Gusmão call for Portuguese businesses to invest in his country, saying that his Government was modifying investment and tax legislation in order to attract foreign capital.

416December 9: Former Prime Minister and Secretary General of FRETILIN, Mari Alkatiri, withdraw from the Timor Sea negotiations, following criticisms by the CNRT in the National Parliament.

2009

417January 9: The East Timorese foreign minister acknowledge that the Pope could visit East Timor in 2010

418January 12: Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declares that he will support Timor-Leste’s application for membership of ASEAN by 2012.

419January 16: Visit of Timor-Leste President to the Philippines. Jose Ramos-Horta agrees with President Arroyo to bolster bilateral cooperation on education and professional training as well as marine and fisheries resources.

420This chronology has been adapted and updated from the chronologies of F. Durand’s Geohistorical Atlas (2002 & 2006). They were mainly based on the following sources: Barbedo de magalhaes 1992; Budiarjo and Liong 1984; Calligan 1953; Carey and Bentley 1995; Defert 1992; Dunn 1983, 2001; ETISC 1999; Hill 1978; Gunn 1999; Jolliffe 1978; Lemos Pires 1994; messager 2000; Nicoll 1978; Niner 2000; Pélissier 1996; Taylor 1991; http://etan.org.