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East Timor Conflict.Prior to WWII, East Timor was a Portuguese colony in what was then the Dutch East Indies. The Netherlands claimed the western portion of the island and the Portuguese the eastern. Following the war, the Dutch East Indies gained its independence and was renamed Indonesia. East Timor was retained as a colony until the Portuguese left the East Timor.

To prevent the communist party, the Fretilin regined, The USA supported anti-communist Indonesia effort to annexed the land to Indonesia.

The conflict over east Timor was as a result of its control over oil resources and Indonesias appetite for control over as much teritory as posible. Indonesia is a nation made up of many different islands peoples and cultures. when the deal was done that Java was to become the overlord of the area after the Dutch left, East Timor (a Portuguese was in a position to refuse to become part off this newly formed Dictatorship. Eventually however after they became independent they were in invaded by the Indonesians with the tacit approval of the Australians as they both intended to share in the oil wealth that was in the east Timor sea. The Timorese were brave Allies to the Australians during WW 2 and many fair minded Australians felt Australia should have come to the aid of the east Timorese rather then leaving them at the mercy of a murderous Indonesian regime They agitated and eventually shamed the Australian government into coming to the aid of WW2 ally. (This was the first place Australia helped that wasn't an a American or English military action.) Australian weaponry has been used throughout the conflict to kill innocent Timorese and Australian reporters reporting on the conflict.

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15y ago

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