Tony Hall: “Mr. Chairman, this is a sense of Congress. It is relative to making a statement concerning the conflict in East Timor.…”

“Mr. Chairman, this is a sense of Congress. It is relative to making a statement concerning the conflict in East Timor. Basically what I am saying is the Congress affirms its support for a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor. What happened in 1975 when the country of Portugal pulled out of East Timor, the Indonesian Government came into this small island country and systematically oppressed the people of East Timor to the point where they used to have 700,000 people in their population and a third of them, as estimated, have perished as a result of starvation, war and terror. Indonesia's invasion was condemned by the United Nations, as was its subsequent occupation of East Timor. On November 12, 1991, Indonesian troops opened fire on thousands of peaceful mourners and demonstrators at Santa Cruz Cemetery in Dili, the capital of East Timor, killing and wounding hundreds. Bishop Carlos Belo has been the preeminent representative of the people of East Timor and has at great risk to his own life fought for the human and civil rights of the people of East Timor while also being a steadfast advocate for nonviolence and dialog between the people of East Timor and the Indonesian authorities.”