Unidentified Falintil members seated around a wooden table in front of a hut in their camp. On ...

Unidentified Falintil members seated around a wooden table in front of a hut in their camp. On the hut is a poster of Xanana Gusmao, leader of the Revolutionary Front of Independent East Timor (Fretilin) and supporter of independence for East Timor, and the flag of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT). Falintil was originally formed as the military wing of the Fretilin political party and both played a major part in the pro-Independence movement surrounding 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.