November 1975 — After 375 years of colonial rule, Portugal withdraws from East Timor, granting it independence. Fretilin (The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor) is formed as a radical left-wing pro-independence party.
December 1975 — Indonesia invades East Timor nine days after Portugal withdraws, claiming it as its 27th province. This move is not recognized by the United Nations. Strong resistance to the Indonesian rule from the people of East Timor is followed by repression and famine resulting in the death of 200,000 people.
November 1992 — Xanana Gusmao, East Timor rebel and guerilla fighter leader, is arrested at a "safe house" outside Dili for fighting Indonesian forces.
May 1993 — Gusmao is sentenced to life in prison for trying to set up a separate state. In 1999, Gusmao's sentence is later changed to 20 years, and he is moved to house arrest. In response to renewed violence by anti-independence activists, Gusmao orders guerilla fighters to resume the fight for independence.
May 1999 — Indonesia and Portugal agree to let the East Timorese vote if they want to be part of Indonesia or an independent country. The vote is endorsed by the United Nations.
August 1999 — In a U.N.-supervised popular referendum, almost 99 percent of 450,000 registered voters cast their ballots.
September 1999 — The results of referendum show 78 percent of voters are in favor of independence from Indonesia.
In response to the referendum, Indonesian-backed anti-independence militia of East Timor resume episodes of violence and suppression, resulting in 1,400 deaths, and forcibly push 300,000 people into West Timor as refugees. Homes, irrigation systems, water-supply systems, schools and almost 100 percent of East Timor's electric framework are destroyed. The United Nations, along with multinational forces, enter East Timor to restore order.
September 2000 — In West Timor, thousands of armed militia rampage through a U.N. office in Atambua and kill three U.N. workers.
October 2000 — Jose Ramos Horta, Nobel Peace laureate, is sworn in as the East Timor Foreign minister.
July 2001 — Australia and East Timor sign a memorandum of agreement over future oil revenues; East Timor would receive 90 percent of the revenues from oil production.
September 2001 — Fretilin wins East Timor's first democratic election, with Mari Alkatiri heading the government. The party wins 57.3 percent of the popular vote.
April 2002 — Gusmao, father of the East Timor independence movement, wins the presidential elections.
May 20, 2002 — East Timor gains independence and becomes the 191st member of the United Nations.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan hands over authority to the first elected Parliament and government of East Timor, headed by President Gusmao.
August 2002 — An Indonesian court passes down the first human rights verdict concerning East Timor, sentencing former Governor Abilio Soares to three years in jail. In 1999, Soares was in charge of East Timor — then an Indonesian province — during a bloody vote for independence. He is found guilty of two counts of "gross rights violations" while in office: failing to prevent violence and militia-led massacres in East Timor that left 1,000 people dead.
February 2003 — The United Nations indicts 32 people — 15 Indonesian soldiers and 17 militia members — on allegations of murder, torture and killing of East Timorese during the 1999 violent split from Indonesia. According to BBC correspondents, it will be difficult to bring them to trial as all are believed to be in Indonesia, which has refused to comply with U.N. arrest warrants.
July 2004 — A group of 100 people, including veteran resistance fighters, stage a protest outside the main government building in Dili. On the second day of their protest, police officers and members of the elite Rapid Intervention Force use tear gas to disperse the crowd and arrest over 30 people. The exact grounds under which they are held in custody are never clarified.
2005 — The U.S. Department of State releases its annual human rights report, which notes that in East Timor some officers are punished for relatively minor misconduct and, in several cases, police officers are convicted and sentenced for assaults committed while on duty. However, no action is taken in a number of cases involving serious misconduct. There are allegations that personal connections within the police force or the Ministry of Interior are factors in some cases.
February 2005 — According to CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists), the Alkatiri-led East Timorese government repeatedly harasses Suara Timor Lorosae, a daily newspaper, for reporting on a recent famine.
Prime Minister Alkatiri imposes an indefinite boycott on Suara Timor Lorosae, banning its journalists from attending official press conferences. Government officials are ordered to break all contact with the daily's journalists, and forbidden to buy or read the paper.
The boycott of the paper results from an article quoting a local official who claimed that 53 people died as a result of a famine in the Ainaro District. The government denies the deaths. Local relief groups confirm that the food crisis affected thousands of Timorese.
March 17, 2006 — 600 members of the East Timor Defense Force are dismissed for striking in protest of poor working conditions, low pay and claims of ethnic discrimination by officers of the East against those from the West.
General frustration with poverty, unemployment, corruption and tensions within the defense provoke several East Timorese to take up arms and join gangs against the government.
May 2006 — In response to intra-military discrimination, soldiers and supporting civilians protest on the streets of the capital, Dili. Protestors get into conflict with the military, riots and looting erupt, 100 buildings are destroyed, and 21,000 residents flee the city. It is the worst violence in East Timor since it became independent. Students go on a rampage — setting fire to vehicles and buildings — supermarkets are attacked and protestors loot shops.
Police and peacekeepers from the United Nations, Australia, New Zealand and Portugal are deployed to East Timor to enforce peace and law and order after the riots; they remain till January 2007.
According to the U.N. Commission Inquiry's report of the 2006 violent crisis, Interior Minister Rogerio Lobato and General Commander Paulo Martins bypass institutional procedures by distributing police and defense force weapons to civilians. Other findings of the Commission confirm Alkatiri's knowledge of this situation and his failure to use his authority as prime minister to prevent the transfer of the arms to civilians.
Hundreds of people break into a warehouse searching for food. Shops and restaurants in the city remain closed. Churches are housing displaced people but feel the shortage of food, sanitation and water.
June 2006 — According to democracy watchdog Freedom House, Prime Minister Alkatiri's supporters are suspected of threatening independent news media of releasing critical reports of the prime minister. Employees of Timor Post, the country's leading independent daily, go into hiding. Timor Post and Suara Timor Lorosae are suspended for several days following publication of critical reports against the government.
June 21, 2006 — News sources claim Alkatiri recruited a civilian hit squad to threaten and kill his political opponents. Such allegations provoke response from President Gusmao, calling for Alkatiri to resign.
June 26, 2006 — Despite support from his political party, Alkatiri resigns from his position as prime minister.
July 2006 — After two weeks of negotiations, Jose Ramos-Horta is nominated for the 2007 elections to assume position as the head of government, replacing Alkatiri.
March 7, 2007 — Rogerio Lobato, East Timor's former Interior minister, is jailed for seven-and-a-half years for fueling civil unrest a year before. He is found guilty of abuse of power and distributing weapons illegally to militias charged with eliminating government opponents. Lobato allegedly supplied weapons to a rebel leader who said he was hired to act against opponents of the government. Lobato claims he was acting under the order of Alkatiri. The judge says, "Lobato was responsible for internal security but failed to prevent the violence." The violence erupted a year before, when Prime Minister Alkatiri ordered the dismissal of 600 soldiers.
May 2007 — Horta wins the presidential elections with 67 percent of votes and is sworn in as East Timor's president.
August 2007 — Gusmao is appointed by President Horta and sworn in as prime minister after East Timor holds parliamentary elections in July. The opposition Fretilin party becomes angry because Gusmao is asked to lead a coalition government despite the fact that his party wins fewer seats than they do in the parliamentary elections. This decision leads to riots and violence on the streets, where hundreds of youths cause mayhem in Dili. Fretilin claims Gusmao's appointment is unconstitutional and illegal and threatens to challenge it in court.
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