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STORY: TIMOR LESTE / PEACEKEEPING
TRT: 06:00
SOURCE: UN NEWS / UNMISS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / PORTUGUESE / NATS
DATELINE: 22 - 27 AUGUST 2024, DILI, TIMOR-LESTE / 03 SEPTEMBER 2024, METINARO, TIMOR-LESTE / 20 AUGUST 2024, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN / FILE
FILE – EAST TIMOR UN TELEVISION – AUGUST, SEPTEMBER 1999, DILI, TIMOR LESTE
1. Various shots, burnt and destroyed buildings
2. Various shots, INTERFET troops on the ground
3. Med shot, UN commander reviewing INTERFET troops
24 AUGUST 2024, DILI, TIMOR LESTE
4. Aerial shot, city view
22 AUGUST 2024, DILI, TIMOR LESTE
5. Various shots, street views
03 SEPTEMBER 2024, METINARO, TIMOR-LESTE
6. Wide shot, exterior, Timorese Armed Forces Training Centre Comandante Nicolau Lobato
7. Close up, Peacekeeping Training Centre sign
8. Various shots, troops at Peacekeeping Training Centre grounds
9. Me shot, Major Luis Pinto speaking during a meeting
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Major Luis Pinto, Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL):
“Many multinational forces joined the UN forces in Timor to help us to build our nation as independent country in the world”.
11. Wide shot, troops at Peacekeeping Training Centre grounds
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Major Luis Pinto, Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL):
“All Timorese soldiers have experience in reconciliation and dialogue. So, we have knowledge on how to interact with other people to build dialogue, because our mindset is that human being is more important than other interests”.
13. Various shots, Major Antão Claudino
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Major Antão Claudino, Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL):
“Currently we send two military observers. They are two majors, but we prepared more numbers to join the UN missions. Not only as military observers but we want also them to join as staff officers so they are working in the rescue and the rest can be force protection.”
UNMISS - 20 AUGUST 2024, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN
15. Various shots, Major Jose Augusto Martins at work
16. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Major Jose Augusto Martins, Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL):
“The peacekeeping forces in Timor-Leste had a positive impact as at that time it consolidated stability and reinforced a culture of good governance, facilitating public dialogue at the time."
17. Various shots, Martins attending meeting with UNMISS Force Commander Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian
18. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Major Jose Augusto Martins, Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL):
"I would like to give a message to our comrades; if you have the opportunity to carry out a peacekeeping mission, please prepare yourselves and develop skills and knowledge to help those who need your help."
26 AUGUST 2024, DILI, TIMOR-LESTE
19. Wide shot, exterior, Government Palace
20. Wide shot, Prime-Minister Xanana Gusmão and interviewer
21. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Xanana Gusmão, Prime-Minister, Timor-Leste:
“From the beginning we always tried to follow what was going on in the rest of the world. Even during the times of armed struggle, with a small radio we always tried to stay current to know what we could apply to our situation. And we noticed that peacekeeping forces had been deployed in several countries."
27 AUGUST 2024, DILI, TIMOR-LESTE
22. Wide shot, activist Bella Galhos walking though garden
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Bella Galhos, Activist:
“The UN has done a great job in making sure that the process was taking place, that transition was happening and that by the time of 2012, the complete handover of the power to the Timorese to carry on until today. So, yes, I have witnessed the progress that has been done by the United Nations.”
24. Various shots, Sister Guilhermina and interviewer
25. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Sister Guilhermina, Catholic Nun:
“Some came armed, and they said; we are looking for our enemies. I replied, now we have no enemies. We are all Timorese. We are children of God. There are no more enemies among us. I said boy take the gun with your left hand and raise your right hand, let's pray. We pray and then you go on your way”.
26. Med shot, Sister Guilhermina and interviewer
27. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Sister Guilhermina, Catholic Nun:
“Through dialogues I saw that the United Nations was always looking for a peaceful intervention among us Timorese.”
23 AUGUST 2024, DILI, TIMOR-LESTE
28. Aerial shot, Cristo Rei statue
Timor-Leste hosted six UN missions between 1999 and 2012, achieving stability after 24 years of conflict with Indonesia and a period of internal tensions. The success of UN missions in Timor-Leste has inspired the deployment of Timorese peacekeepers.
On 30 August 1999, in a referendum conducted with the support of the United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste (UNAMET), 78.5 percent chose independence. The vote was followed by brutal attacks by militias who wanted integration with Indonesia.
The arrival of the International Force for Timor-Leste (INTERFET), approved by the Security Council in September 1999 helped contain the crisis.
Currently, the Asian nation lives under the motto “conflict never again, development welcome” and works to send more and more Timorese soldiers to UN peacekeeping missions around the world.
Since 2018, Timor-Leste has had a Peacekeeping Operations Training Centre focused on preparing military men and women for UN missions.
Former peacekeeper, Major Luis Pinto, said that the situation in the country was very bad before the arrival of INTERFET.
SOUNDBITE (English) Major Luis Pinto, Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL):
“Many multinational forces joined the UN forces in Timor to help us to build our nation as independent country in the world”.
He believes the country has valuable experience on reconciliation that can inspire future peace and security efforts.
SOUNDBITE (English) Major Luis Pinto, Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL):
“All Timorese soldiers have experience in reconciliation and dialogue. So, we have knowledge on how to interact with other people to build dialogue, because our mindset is that human being is more important than other interests”.
The contribution of that mission to the country's stability made him want to also work in UN peacekeeping missions. He realized that dream in 2013 and 2014 when he served as a military observer in South Sudan.
According to the centre’s director, Major Antão Caludino, the country is prepared to send more peacekeepers to work in areas such as rescue and protection.
SOUNDBITE (English) Major Antão Claudino, Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL):
“Currently we send two military observers. They are two majors, but we prepared more numbers to join the UN missions. Not only as military observers but we want also them to join as staff officers so they are working in the rescue and the rest can be force protection.”
Claudino said that two infantry troops are already trained and that the Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL), intend to prepare an engineering company that can work on building roads and schools. According to Claudino, one of the goals of the program is to reinforce the participation of women.
Timor-Leste has already sent officers to UN missions in Kosovo and Lebanon. Since 2011, the country has had two military observer positions in South Sudan, which are currently held by Majors Zequito Ximenes and José Augusto Martins.
Martins, praised the impact of peacekeeping forces in Timor-Leste, highlighting that they consolidated stability and reinforced “a culture of good governance, facilitating public dialogue”.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Major Jose Augusto Martins, Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL):
“The peacekeeping forces in Timor-Leste had a positive impact as at that time it consolidated stability and reinforced a culture of good governance, facilitating public dialogue at the time."
He encouraged his countrymen to develop skills and knowledge to help other people in need.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Major Jose Augusto Martins, Timor-Leste Defence Forces (F-FDTL):
"I would like to give a message to our comrades; if you have the opportunity to carry out a peacekeeping mission, please prepare yourselves and develop skills and knowledge to help those who need your help."
The F-FDTL emerged in 2001, after having incorporated the military apparatus of the Armed Forces for the National Liberation of Timor-Leste (FALINTIL), the main resistance force to the Indonesian occupation, which operated through guerrillas in the mountains.
The country's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmão, who led the Timorese resistance, expressed gratitude for the impact of peacekeeping in Timor-Leste. Gusmão said that during the years of guerrilla warfare in the mountains, he followed news about UN peacekeeping missions in other countries on a small radio.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Xanana Gusmão, Prime-Minister, Timor-Leste:
“From the beginning we always tried to follow what was going on in the rest of the world. Even during the times of armed struggle, with a small radio we always tried to stay current to know what we could apply to our situation. And we noticed that peacekeeping forces had been deployed in several countries."
Bella Galhos was an independence activist during the Indonesian occupation. Since independence she has been a presidential advisor and has focused her activism on human rights and environmental issues.
Galhos highlighted the role of the United Nations in the building of the country.
SOUNDBITE (English) Bella Galhos, Activist:
“The UN has done a great job in making sure that the process was taking place, that transition was happening and that by the time of 2012, the complete handover of the power to the Timorese to carry on until today. So, yes, I have witnessed the progress that has been done by the United Nations.”
Despite the stability achieved and the creation of important institutions, in 2006 an internal political crisis shook the country, generating clashes that displaced more than 150,000 people. The Convent of the Canossian Mothers, in Balide, in the capital Dili, gave refuge from the violence and once housed 23 thousand people.
Sister Guilhermina, responsible for the convent at the time, recalled that when she opened the gates to welcome people, she thought it would be for only a few hours, but the situation lasted for 2 years and 9 months.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Sister Guilhermina, Catholic Nun:
“Some came armed, and they said; we are looking for our enemies. I replied, now we have no enemies. We are all Timorese. We are children of God. There are no more enemies among us. I said boy take the gun with your left hand and raise your right hand, let's pray. We pray and then you go on your way”.
On many other occasions, the nun had the support of UN peacekeepers to secure the location. The blue helmets carried out surveillance, preventing attacks from outside, but also from within, by some of the refugees.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Sister Guilhermina, Catholic Nun:
“Through dialogues I saw that the United Nations was always looking for a peaceful intervention among us Timorese.”
UNTAET, the UN mission responsible for the administration of Timor-Leste during the transition to independence, was tasked with the maintenance of law and order and the creation of institutions, especially those of the judiciary and police, to guarantee the rule of law.
After independence, UNTAET was replaced by the United Nations Support Mission for Timor-Leste, (UNMISET) and the UN Office in Timor-Leste (UNOTIL).
Between 2006 and 2012, United Nations Integrated Mission in East Timor (UNMIT) was deployed, with a police component made up of 1,600 members, who came from 44 different countries. In 2012, UNMIT ended its activities, and the UN continues to support the country through its agencies, on various issues linked to sustainable development.
In the 25 years since UNTAET’s deployment, Timorese leaders have prioritized national reconciliation and the normalization of relations with Indonesia. These choices, combined with support from the international community, have made the country a reference in post-conflict stabilization.
