Declaration of independence East Timor was colonised by
Portugal in the mid-16th century and administered as
Portuguese Timor. After the 1974
Carnation Revolution in Portugal, a decolonisation process was initiated which was to have led to the formation of an elected Constituent Assembly in 1976. Three new parties emerged at this time: the
Timorese Democratic Union, which advocated continued association with Portugal;
Fretilin, which supported independence; and
Apodeti, which supported integration into
Indonesia. In local elections held on 13 March 1975, Fretilin and UDT emerged as the largest parties, having previously formed an alliance to campaign for independence. On 11 August 1975, the UDT attempted a coup, in a bid to halt the increasing popularity of Fretilin. Portuguese Governor
Mário Lemos Pires fled to the offshore island of
Atauro, north of the capital,
Dili, from where he later attempted to broker an agreement between the two sides. On 28 November 1975, Fretilin made a
unilateral declaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of East Timor with
Francisco Xavier do Amaral as president and
Nicolau dos Reis Lobato as prime minister. This act was not recognised by either Portugal or Indonesia. On 30 November 1975, Fretilin caused a "Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (RDTL)" to be read out at an inauguration ceremony for Amaral as the newly appointed president. Article 40 of the new constitution provided for the establishment of a
Council of Ministers. On 1 December 1975, Fretilin established that body. On 7 December 1975, Indonesian forces launched a massive air and sea invasion, known as
Operasi Seroja (Operation Lotus), citing the potential for a communist government, the need to develop the territory and national and regional security risks as reasons for its actions. Indonesian forces occupied the capital,
Dili, within hours of launching the invasion during the
Battle of Dili and occupied the second largest city,
Baucau, on 10 December, with
Liquisa and
Maubara being occupied in late December.
Subsequent events On 17 December an Indonesian-supported
Provisional Government of East Timor (
Pemerintah Sementara Timor Timur;
PSTT) was formed which was led by Arnaldo dos Reis Araújo of Apodeti and Lopez da Cruz of the UDT. A Regional Popular Assembly was established on 31 May 1976, which subsequently adopted a resolution calling for the formal integration of East Timor into Indonesia. On 17 July 1976, Indonesia formally annexed East Timor as the province of
Timor Timur with as its first governor. The United Nations did not recognise either the Democratic Republic of East Timor, proclaimed by Fretilin, or Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor and instead continued to recognise Portugal as the legal Administering Power as demonstrated by
United Nations Security Council Resolution 384. This meant that in terms of international law
Portuguese Timor nominally continued to exist. An agreement in 1999 between the governments of Portugal and Indonesia led to a
referendum on 30 August 1999 in which a majority of the people of East Timor voted for independence. Following a transitional period of
United Nations administration, East Timor became independent as the
Democratic Republic of East Timor on 20 May 2002. ==Text of the Declaration of Independence==