INDONESIA/EAST TIMOR: INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM WRAP

(30 Aug 1999) Eng/Portu/Nat
Defying threats of violence and intimidation, throngs of eager East Timorese have voted on the future of their troubled territory.
U-N officials estimated that 79 percent of registered voters cast their ballots in deciding whether their troubled territory should become independent or remain part of Indonesia.
The historic referendum was the first time East Timor's people have had a direct say in how their homeland should be governed after almost four centuries of Portuguese rule and 24 years of iron-fisted Indonesian occupation.
Dawn broke in the streets of Dili on Monday as East Timor awoke to usher in a day of destiny in its history.
The territory has seen some of the worst violence in its recent troubled history and some doubted they would ever see the day when its population would be allowed to vote to determine their homeland's future.
But people queued up in the early morning hours before polling stations opened, waiting for their chance to embrace the democratic process.
Some stations opened one hour before the official starting time of 7 am local time to accommodate the rush of voters.
This polling station in Dili is one of the 850 centres across the territory which will administer the vote.
There were some hopeful signs that the recent violence that has wracked the colony in the run up to the vote might be contained.
East Timor's rival pro- and anti-independence leaders agreed to keep armed supporters off the streets and allow the ballot to proceed peacefully in a U-N-brokered peace deal on Sunday.
The agreement came after turmoil threatened to cast derail the ballot in the final days of the campaigning.
The territory's warring factions had already signed a peace pact in April and agreed to surrender their weapons to the police in June.
But the deaths of at least 10 people in street battles between opponents of Jakarta's rule and pro-Jakarta militia in the last few days cast doubt over the effectiveness of such agreements.
United Nations officials who are overseeing the process unloaded ballots and other materials as eager voters watched from their position in line.
Dozens of locals have been killed in violent clashes this year and an estimated 60-thousand have fled their homes in fear.
But for others, this is the day they've been waiting nearly 30 years for.
SOUNDBITE: (Bahasa Indonesian)
"I was born here (in East Timor) and I'm going to stay here, no matter what."
SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop, voter
SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese)
"I believe that East Timor should be free so I voted for independence and I know that's what the people want."
SUPER CAPTION: Vox pop, voter
The United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) who are organising the ballot, accused pro-Jakarta militia groups of waging a terror campaign to intimidate voters from voting for separation.
Voting officials displayed the empty ballot box to journalists and potential voters in an effort to assure everyone that the vote would be fair and clean.
In many towns enthusiastic voters scuffled with one another to be the first to cast their vote.
In the town of Maliana on the west of the territory many voters had come to cast their ballot after months spent hiding in the hills.
Heavily armed police, who had previously failed to rein in attacks by pro-Indonesia militias, stood guard at the polling stations along with unarmed U-N advisors.
Special U-N envoy for Kofi Annan, Jamsheed Marker received a hero's welcome as he arrived in the pro-independence town of Baucau.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
UPSOUND: (English)
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