(30 Oct 1999) Voice and effects
VOICED BY PHILIPPA MEAGHER
Indonesian troops have withdrawn officially from East Timor - clearing the way for a newly independent territory.
The withdrawal officially ends 24 years of bloody conflict between the province and the Indonesian army.
In an extraordinary farewell gesture, East Timor's top rebel leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao said goodbye to some of Indonesia's military officers, part of the same forces who had him arrested and imprisoned.
0.03 ..A defiant departure from East Timor of the last elements of the once-powerful Indonesian army.
0.11 A moment many thought would never come.
0.14 These troops had occupied Dili for 24 years.
0.17 Their farewell closed a controversial chapter of history.
0.21 Thousands of lives have been lost since the 1975 bloody invasion of the former Portuguese colony.
0.27 But despite widespread anger, the troops were given a respectful send-off.
0.31 Perhaps the most symbolic act to illustrate the fall of a mighty army.
0.36 The Indonesian flag was lowered at the barracks for the last time.... a final curtain on Indonesia's control of East Timor.
0.43 A U-N transition team formally assumed control of the Timorese capital earlier this week.
0.53 At Dili's airfield, East Timor's top rebel leader widely known as "Xanana" initiated a remarkable farewell gesture.
Shaking the hand of the enemy he'd been locked in battle with for years - the guerrilla chieftain told reporters the Indonesian occupation had been "a mistake between two countries."
1.12 Some Indonesian soldiers seemed content to leave.
1.14
SOUNDBITE: (English)
(Reporter) "Are you sad to leave?"
"Not sad."
SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop, Indonesian soldier
1.24 Cemeteries mark the graves of close to five-thousand Indonesian soldiers who fell here, barely a fraction of the 200-thousand East Timorese also killed in the fight for independence.
1.36 The man widely predicted to become East Timor's first president assured those scarred by years of death and uncertainty that things would improve.
"Xanana" told this woman: "You don't have to cry again. We've won. Don't cry."
(1.51) VISION ENDS
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