Informal group portrait of an unidentified Australian District Electoral Officer (DEO) and ...

Informal group portrait of an unidentified Australian District Electoral Officer (DEO) and locally employed East Timorese staff, outside the Lauana School, a registration and voting centre. The DEO is in East Timor as part of the United Nations Mission East Timor (UNAMET). Identified are, James P Brew, Australian District Electoral Officer and Team Leader, front, second from left in white pants; Jose Ernesto Jesus Maia, United Nations (UN) translator, front, third from left in UN vest (who was killed later in 1999); and Criado, front, forth from left. Criado had worked with Australian troops in the Second World War. 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.