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East Timor Independence Fighters Form New Defense Force Under U.N.
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 1 (News Agencies) - The small guerrilla band which fought the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, Falintil, was reformed Thursday as the core of the territory's new defense force under U.N. administration.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said that Falintil commander Taur Matan Ruak was appointed commander-in-chief of the East Timor Defense Force with the rank of brigadier general.
The first battalion of the light infantry force will be composed exclusively of 650 members of Falintil, and the force is due to grow over three years to reach 1,500 regulars and 1,500 reservists.
The force commander was appointed by the head of the U.N. transitional administration in East Timor (UNTAET), Sergio Vieira de Mello, at a ceremony in Aileu, just south of the capital, Dili.
Eckhard said that Vieira de Mello expressed "his deepest respect for the independence fighters and their 25-year struggle," which started when Indonesian forces overran East Timor after the former colonial power, Portugal, abandoned it.
"Armed with little more than moral courage and despite hunger, deprivation and innumerable setbacks, Falintil prevailed over a massive occupying force," Vieira de Mello said.
Indonesia relinquished control of East Timor to the U.N. in October 1999, two months after the territory voted by a majority of four to one in favor of independence.
After the vote, in a referendum organized by the U.N., anti-independence militias went on the rampage, forcing more than 300,000 East Timorese to flee to Indonesian-controlled West Timor.
The Security Council and top U.N. officials have repeatedly expressed concern about the threat posed by the militias, and insisted that Indonesia disarm and disband them.
Two hundred and fifty former Falintil members are to begin 12 weeks of basic training under Portuguese instructors at Aileu next week.
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