Muted celebrations mark East Timor’s first anniversary
About 10,000 Timorese gathered in front of the Government Palace in the capital Dili in a ceremony lacking the euphoria of last year, when world leaders feted the birth of the world's newest nation and crowds partied into the night.
Ballads and revolutionary folk songs wafted across the waterfront as Timorese watched their newly formed army and military march past.
The country's flag was raised and a minute of silence was held for "its national heroes" killed in the struggle for independence. President Xanana Gusmao then addressed the crowd and spoke of the country's struggles with poverty and unemployment.
Most in the crowd young families, villagers dressed in traditional outfits and a ragtag group of ex-guerrillas said they were thrilled with their newfound freedoms and were proud to have a government that represented them. But they also said the national holiday brought back bad memories. Some recalled how a son was tortured by the Indonesians or a village terrorised.
Smaller festivities took place across the country, with church services and soccer matches. State owned Timor Telecom gave free local phone calls for all. "Today is a chance to express my happiness," said Antonio Rosario, a 63-year-old farmer who had arrived by truck with 70 others from his village of Camea, just east of Dili.
"We suffered so much in the past," he said. "We were always forced to flee the village for the forest. I know my government is weak but at least we are independent."
After hundreds of years of Portuguese and then Indonesian rule, East Timor voted in August 1999 to become independent in a UN-sponsored referendum.
The Indonesian military and its proxy militias responded by laying waste to the former province, killing 1,500 Timorese and forcing 300,000 from their homes.
The UN administered the country for two-and-a-half years and East Timor became independent on May 20, 2002.
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