East Timor

East Timor is the youngest nation in the world right now. It became independent only in 2002. The island of Timor was divided between Portugal and the Netherlands during the process of colonizing Southeast Asia. After the Portugese withdrew in 1975 East Timor was annexed by Indonesia, which caused a 24 years long secessionist war faught between east timorese guerrillas, the indonesian military and indonesia-backed milita. In 1999 the people of East Timor got the chance to vote between autonomy within Indonesia or independence. Almost 80 % chose independence. In the weeks after the anouncement of the results, the militia killed thousands of people, caused hundreds of thousands to flee and left most of the country in rubble. UN peacekeeping troops were able to restore order, and in 2002 East Timor finally became officially independent. Today East Timor is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is bordered by Indonesia and Australia.