Yearbook 2008
Timor. In a coup attempt in February, President Jos谷
Ramos-Horta was seriously wounded. In a firefight at his
residence, the coup leader Alfredo Reinado, who led an armed
uprising in 2006, was killed. According to
Countryaah reports, President Ramos-Horta flew to
Australia, where he slowly recovered. In April he was able
to return to East Timor and shortly afterwards surrendered
the rebels who had been behind the attempted murder.

For almost two months, there was an emergency permit,
which included a nightly curfew and a demonstration ban.
Shortly after the coup attempt, the UN Security Council
extended the mandate of the UN troop UNMIT for another year.
After three years of work, a joint Indonesian-East
Timorese Truth Commission concluded its investigation of the
violence in connection with the 1999 referendum on East
Timor's independence. The Commission established that the
Indonesian army bore much of the responsibility for the
violence by cooperating with the local militia that killed
about 1,400 people. The work was boycotted by the UN, which
has already blamed Indonesia's debt and demanded that those
responsible be held accountable. The Indonesian government
regretted the violence and promised action but rejected the
idea of establishing an international war crimes tribunal.
East Timor also said that it is now time to put the past
aside and move on with the community building.
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