ABSTRACT
East Timor emerged as an independent state: the Democratic Republic of Timor Lorosae, or the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste (DRTL), becoming the 191st member of the United Nations in the following September. At its birth, the small new country had 1.1 million people and was one of the poorest countries in the world. As East Timor joined the comity of nations, it held great promises of good days in the near future. On the day of its independence, the DRTL and Australia signed a "provisional" treaty. Known as the Timor Sea Treaty, the document defined a Joint Petroleum Development Area, which was further refined by two agreements between the DRTL and Australia in 2003 and 2005. The fortunes of the East Timorese independence movement improved, as the European Union under Portugal's chairmanship and the United States made further aid to Indonesia dependent on distinct improvement in the human rights situation in East Timor.
