Fri, Aug 31, 2001 - Page 1 News List

Voters usher in birth of new nation

EAST TIMOR POLLS After centuries of struggle and exactly two years after pro-Indonesian militia went on a violent rampage, the nation yesterday trod a new path

REUTERS , DILI, EAST TIMOR

Indonesia, which surrounds East Timor, invaded the territory in 1975 after Portugal's disorganized withdrawal and annexed it the following year.

More than 200,000 people -- a quarter of the territory's population -- were killed in the fighting, famine and disease that followed. But Indonesia's rule was never recognized by the mainstream of the world community or the UN.

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