| Accession Number | P04504.024 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Photograph |
| Object type | Black & white - Digital file TIFF |
| Maker |
Parker, David Dare |
| Place made | East Timor |
| Date made | 24 December 1999 |
| Conflict |
East Timor, 1999-2013 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: AWM Licensed copyright |
| Copying Provisions | Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction. |
Xanana Gusmao, President of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) comforts a ...
Description
Xanana Gusmao, President of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) comforts a distressed woman at a cemetery, during the funeral of his father, Francisco Gusmao. Xanana Gusmao, a leader of Fretilin, the East Timorese resistance organisation, and commander of Falintil, its armed wing, had been sentenced to life imprisonment in March 1993, following his capture by the Indonesian government. He was transferred to house arrest in the run up to the referendum of 30 August 1999. Following the announcement of the pro-independence ballot result, pro-Indonesian militias launched a campaign of arson, murder and destruction across the territory. Gusmao was released from house arrest on 7 September 1999, and fled to Australia. Australians were deployed to East Timor on 20 September 1999 as part of the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET), an Australian led international mission to bring peace and stability to the former colony under a United Nations mandate. Xanana Gusmao returned to East Timor in October 1999. He was elected President of the new nation of Timor Leste in May 2002.