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The first massacre in East Timor happened in the year 1976. When the country gained its independence in the year 1976, Indonesia invaded East-Timor and occupied the whole country. No other country, except Australia gave recognition to the assault. The western countries and the United States of America approved the Indonesian invasion on the East- Timor. The East Timor Indonesia Genocide lead the country to utter penury and thousands of Timorese died from famine, diseases.
Initially the massacre in East Timor did not receive any attention from the foreign countries. The Indonesian military forces brutally killed the Timorese leading to the death of 200,000 people. In the year 1990s, the human rights abuses of Indonesia started getting attention from the various foreign countries. In the year, 1996 two activists of the eastern region of Timor, Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and José Ramos-Horta, were honored with the esteemed Nobel Peace Prize for their hard work to gain liberty in a nonviolent way.
In the year 1998, B.J Habibie, the president of Indonesia, announced, of holding a referendum on the independence of the East Timorese.
The time for the referendum on self rule came closer and the scuffle between the two parties, Indonesian paramilitary forces and the guerillas rose to a great extent. The referendum had to schedule again due to the ongoing violence. The massacre in East Timor totally devastated the country. The Indonesian forces slaughtered the Timorese people mercilessly. In the year 1999, most of the East Timorese people voted for the freedom of the East Timor. International pressure forced Indonesian military to permit UN forces in the East Timor and regain peace. A global peacekeeping force from Australia started working in the ravaged country to restore peace in East- Timor.
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