After East Timor voted for its independence on August 30 1999 from a 23 year occupation by Indonesia, a militia which the Indonesian initially denied responsibility for begun a months long rampage of murder and terror during a campaign to destroy every item of infrastructure in the country. Later investigations revealed the Indonesian military undoubtably had planned a "Scorched Earth Operation" in response to the achievement of independence from Indonesian rule.

Though the full extent of Indonesian government involvement in these months of rampaging militia may never be formally acknowledged, various informed bodies including UN investigating officials http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/etimor/001120.htm and independent reviews http://www.etan.org/news/2000a/fromscor.htm inside Timor-Leste remain confident of their belief. The main UN suspect organizers Gen. Wiranto and prominent militia leader Eurico Guterres, have to date not been held accountable by Indonesia for their sacking of the newly independent Timor-Leste.

Events Before

In April 1999 the Indonesian government effectively closed the Universitas Timor Timur (UNTIM) in response to demands for a referendum. Upon the announcement of a ballot by the UN, most students and the few Timorese lecturers returned to their villages to campaign for independence, while the Indonesian lecturers returned to Indonesia. University students fanned across the country before the referendum in 1999 to work for the vote for independence, many being killed in the violence that followed.

Also in April massacres of independence supporters in Liquiçá and of refugees seeking shelter at the Díli home of independence leader Manuel Carrascalão, were fore tales of events to come.

In June 1999, a large section of the UNTIM Library was removed by an Indonesian academic and reputedly been moved into the Protestant Library in Kupang. This included the valuable English collection.

A month after the election, UN prosecutors filed indictments against two Indonesian soldiers and nine pro-Jakarta militiamen for acts of mass extermination, deportation, and imprisonment.

Events of Operation Scorched Earth

At the University the first buildings to be razed were resistance centres including the CNRT offices and student centres. The schools, colleges and the university were destroyed and 95% of school buildings in East Timor including the Nurses Institute were looted and destroyed.

An estimated 250,000 East Timorese fled or were driven across the border into West Timor, where through rumours of on-going atrocities at home and militia forces keep the refugee for months. By November 2000 there were still 120,000 refugees in the Indonesian camps in West Timor and UN inspections http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/etimor/governance/001121.htm reveal appalling conditions.