ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in East Timor. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in East Timor. East Timor's road to independence began in January 1999, when Indonesian President B. J. Habibie announced that he favored letting the East Timorese decide their political future in a referendum. East Timor is governed by an interim United Nations authority that has a Security Council mandate to set up a democratic government and prepare the territory for full independence. The authority, the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), is headed by Sergio Viera de Mello of Portugal, a senior UN official.
