Informal portrait of civilian Police Officers, members of the United Nations Mission East Timor ...

Informal portrait of civilian Police Officers, members of the United Nations Mission East Timor (UNAMET), with a Falintil leader, holding a satellite telephone. Identified, left to right, standing: Sergeant (Sgt) Wayne Corbett, New Zealand Police); Sgt Paul Morris, Australian Federal Police (AFP); Don Barnby, AFP. Kneeling: unidentified Falintil leader; Sgt Randy Martenet, United States Police. Falintil was originally formed as the military wing of the Fretelin political party and both played a major part in the pro-Independence movement surrounding the referendum. UNAMET was sent to East Timor on 11 June 1999, to organise, conduct and supervise the referendum, held on 30 August 1999, to allow the East Timorese to choose between autonomy within Indonesia or independence. Following the overwhelming vote for independence, the pro-Indonesian militia launched a campaign of destruction, arson and murder, killing approximately 1500 people and forcing 300,000 others into West Timor as refugees. Due to this the mandate of UNAMET was extended from 31 August 1999 to 30 September 1999, although most members were evacuated by 20 September when the International Force for East Timor (INTERFET) was sent in.