Guerrilla warfare begins. Tens of thousands of East Timorese perish at the hands of Indonesian soldiers over the next two decades. 1991 - Indonesian military presence continues. 1996 - Attention drawn back to region when Bishop Carlos Belo and Jose Ramos Horta are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in the region. January 1999 - New Indonesian President B.J. Habibie announces that he will allow East Timorese to vote whether or not they want to be independent from Indonesia.
Violence breaks out from pro-Indonesian groups.
Following the vote, up to 7,000 East Timorese are killed and up to 100,000 are driven out of East Timor by pro-Indonesian groups. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan threatens to prosecute these crimes. Many countries in U.N. refuse to send troops without Indonesian approval. President Habibie decides to allow a U.N. peacekeeping force into Indonesia only one day after the Indonesian ambassador to the U.N. refused troops. The first step, I believe, in being responsible and responsive Christians is to make these small, but significant, gains in knowledge, awareness, and the realization of our common humanity.