With a population of just over one million and an economy based almost entirely on coffee exports, unrest in East Timor should not intuitively be of much significance to western interests. Nonetheless, two months after nearly half of the country’s soldiers were dismissed, strikes, public protests, and the recent emergence of machete-wielding youth gangs in the capital of Dili and other cities, numerous countries have issued travel warnings, and several have even sent troops. Given that East Timor’s large neighbor and former occupier, Indonesia , is reeling from a significant earthquake on May 27, 2006 that resulted in at least 5,500 deaths, a review of the situation in East Timor will provide some context to the global interest.
Sharing the island of Timor with Indonesia, East Timor was a Portuguese colony until it declared independence on November 28, 1975. Within nine days, Indonesian armed forces invaded the territory, and soon East Timor came to be viewed by Indonesia as its 27th province. The brutal occupation killed an estimated 200,000 by violence, starvation, and disease until international pressure cleared the way for an independence referendum in 1999. Indonesia did not take the electoral loss well and organized sympathetic militias in a scorched earth campaign killing at least 1,400 people and forcibly relocated nearly 300,000 civilians to West Timor all in just one month. After an interim international force led by Australia was deployed by the end of that month to maintain frontiers and establish internal security, the country was granted recognized by the international community on May 20, 2002.
The subsequent East Timor army only totaled 1,400 when, in March 2006, 600 soldiers claiming discrimination were dismissed for protests and strikes. Subsequently, elements of the dismissed units began rioting while others fled the cities but threatened an insurgency. By April 2006, numerous countries began issuing travel warnings and relocating embassy staffs. Notably, on May 4, 2006 the US Embassy issued an Advisory, which was subsequently updated on May 24, 2006 (Advisory). Instability flourished prompting the International Red Cross to estimate as many as 50,000 people had fled Dili. Nonetheless, Australia is leading an international security detachment that will ultimately include nearly 1,300 Australian troops and ships, helicopters, and armored personnel carriers. Malaysia will send 500 troops, Portugal another 120 paramilitary police, and New Zealand will send 60 police for general security duties. On May 25, Australia’s first load of 130 troops secured Dili’s international airport. Additionally, last week a small detachment of US Marines was sent to bolster protection at the US Embassy.
Although East Timor has sold exploration rights for oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea, conspiracy theorists are hard pressed to demonstrate any immediate economic motive for such a flood of assistance to such a seemingly inconsequential country. Nonetheless, protection for embassy staffs and international travelers at the airport and other locales and the deployment of security forces in harm’s way to encourage stability and the return home of those 50,000 internally displaced people should provide sufficient rationale for Western interest in the newest county in the global community of nations.