East Timor becomes nation amid fireworks, emotion

DILI, East Timor -- With the world watching, the small island territory of East Timor proudly took its place among the community of nations on Monday, triumphing at last over its long history of brutal oppression by foreign occupiers.

Lest the country forget those bloody struggles, grizzly scenes of torture filled wide screens as the country declared independence just after midnight Sunday in a joyous, but at times tearful, ceremony in the seaside capital of Dili.

"I salute you -- people of East Timor -- for the courage and perseverance you have shown," said U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan told an exuberant crowd.

"Yours has not been an easy path to independence. You should be very proud of your achievement," he said.

Annan was one of many foreign leaders, including former President Clinton, who attended the birth of the world's newest country.

Shortly after the raising of new national flag, Xanana Gusmao, a 55-year-old poet and former guerrilla leader was sworn in as East Timor's first head of state. Having served more than six years in jail and house arrest, he was elected president in a U.N.-supervised vote last month.

"Independence! As a people, as a territory, as a nation! One body, one mind, one wish!" Gusmao said.

, reciting a poem he wrote himself.

Gusmao missed most of Sunday's ceremony. He spent the time with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, accompanying her on a visit to a cemetery containing the graves of Indonesian soldiers killed in East Timor.

The gesture revealed the enormous importance East Timor's leaders are placing on establishing good relations with Indonesia, a country whose brutal occupation killed tens of thousands of people.

Gusmao and Megawati entered the arena together. They held hands and raised them aloft as the crowd cheered and applauded.

On flags, bandanas and baseball caps, East Timorese wore their national colors -- red, white, black and yellow -- wherever they could fit them Sunday.

Tens of thousands of people smiled, cheered and hugged each other in an outpouring of emotion at the celebration, which ended four centuries of Portuguese colonial rule, 24 years of Indonesian occupation and 2 1/2 years of interim rule by the United Nations.

VIPs from around the world -- among them Annan, former Clinton, Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio and Australian Prime Minister John Howard -- watched the show from a covered stand made from bamboo.

The locals -- parents with young children playing at their feet, students and old men and women in village dress -- sat cross-legged on the grass.

East Timor is not only the world's newest nation; it's also one of the poorest. About 40 percent of the country's 800,000 people are illiterate, and unemployment is estimated at 70 percent.

"Everything will start from zero, but I am sure it will work out because we are starting with freedom," said Joao Freitas, a 22-year old student.

A 50-foot-long float, in the shape of a crocodile with a little boy sitting atop it, was wheeled into the arena. Legend has it that Timor island was once a giant crocodile befriended by a local boy, who then rode the oceans on its back.

After hundreds of years of foreign occupation, East Timor voted in 1999 for independence from Indonesia in a U.N.-sponsored referendum. Afterward, Indonesian troops and anti-independence militia gangs went on a rampage that devastated the half-island territory and killed hundreds.

During Sunday's eight-hour independence extravaganza, huge TV screens showed occasionally grizzly scenes of emaciated bodies and torture victims. The crowd cheered -- and many wept openly -- when pictures of the resistance leaders were displayed during a tribute to the heroes of the independence struggle.

The audience was treated to a display of traditional dance and music. At one point, dozens of tribesman from different regions of the country rode into the arena on horseback to the sound of drums and flutes.

"I'm so old, I can only shuffle my feet, but I'm happy," said 57-year-reveller Alberto Amaral da Cruz.

Old ghosts haunt the new country -- one speck of land in the 3,000-mile-long archipelago that is home to 200 million Indonesians.

Indonesia will be East Timor's top foreign policy priority because of its proximity and economic dominance. East Timor also wants to prevent disgruntled Indonesian officers from inciting pro-Jakarta militiamen still living in refugee camps in Indonesian West Timor.

Megawati has spent much of her political career opposing East Timorese independence. But she decided to attend the independence celebration anyway -- a decision that angered hardline lawmakers at home.

Reducing poverty will be the biggest challenge facing the new government. East Timor is expected to sign a treaty with Australia on Monday dividing oil and gas reserves under the Timor Sea. But revenue from those reserves are not expected to kick in until 2005. In the meantime the country will be largely dependent on foreign aid.

For now, East Timorese are savoring the joy of independence.

About 500 people crowded into the residence of Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo for an Independence Day Mass earlier Sunday. They prayed in silence, but when the service was over they smiled and laughed and spoke of hopes for the future.

Bishop Belo shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Jose Ramos-Horta, the new East Timorese foreign minister, for his peaceful struggle for independence.

Ramos-Horta told The Associated Press that now is a time for "peace, tolerance and forgiveness."

"We are very happy. We are a proud and simple people who deserve peace, who deserve freedom."