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East Timor celebrates its independence

East Timor was declared independent May 20 in a joyous ceremony in Dili, where its red, black and gold flag replaced that of the United Nations.

Minutes after the declaration, 55-year-old former freedom fighter and poet Xanana Gusmao was sworn in as East Timor's first democratically elected president.

"Independence. As a people, as a territory, as a nation. One body, one mind, one wish," said Gusmao, who served more than 6 years in jail in Indonesia.

"Our independence will have no value, if all the people in East Timor continue to live in poverty and continue to suffer all kinds of difficulties.

"Today we are a people standing on equal footing with all other people in the world," Gusmao told tens of thousands of his people at the celebrations marking the proclamation of the world's newest nation.

More than 200,000 people — a quarter of the population — were killed by fighting, famine and disease after Indonesia invaded and occupied East Timor in 1975.

The territory was also devastated by a campaign of murder and destruction by pro-Indonesian militias and the Indonesian Army, after its vote for independence in August 1999.

Shukan ST: May 31, 2002

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