The Indonesian invasion of East Timor began on 7 December 1975 when the Indonesian military invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-colonialism. The overthrow of a popular and briefly Fretilin-led government sparked a violent quarter-century occupation in which between approximately 100–180,000 East Timorese soldiers and civilians are estimated to have been killed or starved.
During the first few years of the war, the Indonesian military faced heavy insurgency resistance in the mountainous interior of the island, but from 1977–1978, the military procured new advanced weaponry from the United States, Australia, and other countries, to destroy Fretilin’s framework. However, the last two decades of the century saw continuous clashes between Indonesian and East Timorese groups over the status of East Timor, until 1999, when the East Timorese voted for independence in a United Nations Mission in East Timor referendum.
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