By Maj. Lisa Bailey, USA

East Timor, the beneficiary of two years of stabilizing efforts by Asia-Pacific military peacekeepers, celebrates its independence on 20 May 2002. Photo by J02 Gael Rene, USN

Thanks to regional military cooperation, East Timor became an independent nation — the first in the new millennium — on 20 May 2002. After 400 years of Portuguese rule, over two decades of Indonesian occupation, and three years of UN administration, the island nation embarks on a challenging future.

Asia’s poorest country, East Timor has an annual gross domestic product per capita of just $478, a life expectancy of only 57 years, and more than half the population of 800,000 is illiterate, according to a UN report. Moreover, anti-independence militias destroyed 90 percent of the country’s infrastructure after East Timorese voted for independence in 1999.

Dignitaries attending East Timor’s independence celebration included Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio, and former President Bill Clinton, representing the United States.

On 19 May, East Timor’s newly elected president, Xanana Gusmao, East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Transitional Administrator Sergio Vieira de Mello, and the people of East Timor gave former U.S. President Clinton a resounding welcome on his arrival in East Timor.

Other U.S. delegates included James Kelly, Assistant Secretary of State for Asian Affairs; Shari Villarosa, U.S. Chargé d’ Affaires for East Timor; Karen Brooks, National Security Council Director for Asian Affairs; Brig. Gen. John G. Castellaw, Deputy Commander U.S. Marine Forces Pacific; and former UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.