Minister Agio Pereira symbolically hands over the book “The Last Step in National Liberation – A Chronology” to the UN Special Envoy to East Timor in 1999 « Government of East Timor

As part of the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Popular Consultation leading to the restoration of East Timor’s independence, a symbolic handover ceremony of the book “The Last Step to National Liberation – A Chronology, 2024” was held today (29 August). The handover was handed over by Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Agio Pereira, to Ian Martin, the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for East Timor in 1999 and Head of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), and Tamrat Samuel, then Assistant to the Secretary-General for Political Affairs, who played a major role in mediating and facilitating the referendum process. The ceremony took place at the East Timorese Resistance Archive and Museum.

This book documents the events that took place between 5 May and 4 September 1999, in the final months of the national liberation struggle that led to the restoration of East Timor’s independence, moments that are delivered to the East Timorese nation as symbols of memory and historical importance. The book details in chronological order the steps taken by the East Timorese resistance and the international intervention that led to the referendum on 30 August 1999, supervised by UNAMET and led by Ian Martin.

During the ceremony, Minister Agio Pereira stressed the importance of the May 5 Agreement and the role of the various actors that made it possible and paved the way for the referendum.

The Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers also recalled a particularly emotional moment on the road to the referendum, recalling the first raising of the flag of the National Council of Resistance of East Timor (CNRT) in Dili on 15 August 1999. A moment immortalized in the poem “A Minha Bandeira” by Domingos de Sousa, recited at the time and included in the third edition.

The publication “The Last Step of National Liberation – Chronology” is available at: https://timor-leste.gov.tl/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/brochura-25-anos-consulta-popular-2024-08-21-small-size1.pdf