SUMMARY
CNRT (Conselho Nacional de Resistencia Timorense: National Council of the Timorese Resistance; also known as FRETILIN) was a political party and armed independence movement that operated during the colonial and occupied period in East Timor. Originating as the Timorese Social Democratic Association (ASDT) on 20 May 1974, it renamed itself Frente Revolucionária de Timor-Leste Independente (FRETILIN) when it transitioned from being a political party to a national liberation movement four months later. FRETILIN was renamed Conselho Nacional da Resistancia Maubere: National Council of the Maubere Resistance (CNRM) in 1988, when it joined an umbrella organization that formed to unite the independence-seeking groups in East Timor. Although FRETILIN members were the CNRM core, they joined the coalition in order to strengthen their hand and make it easier for states and international bodies to negotiate with the liberation-seeking groups on independence. In 1998, the umbrella organization was renamed CNRT and this lasted until the occupation of East Timor ended in 1999 and the CNRT disbanded in 2000. Subsequently, the CNRT group members became independently operating entities again including FRETILIN, which returned to being a political party. It went on to serve in the transitional governments and was later elected to become the first internationally recognized Government of East Timor when the country gained independence in 2002.
The objective of the CNRT was to achieve independence for East Timor. Prior to joining the CNRT coalition in 1988, the independent then-ASDT had been a left-wing group broadly based on social democratic values that embraced a conceptualization of combating illiteracy, poverty and political oppression known as Mauberism. It issued a manifesto calling for East Timor’s independence after ten years preparation. When ASDT transitioned into a national liberation movement, FRETILIN championed the pursuit of these ideals through an armed struggle for liberation against the colonial Government of Portugal. This armed struggle was extended towards the Government of Indonesia, after it invaded East Timor in December 1975 and occupied it for 14 years, whilst the territory remained formally under Portuguese colonial rule (see conflict Indonesia: East Timor for more information). Despite FRETILIN independently retaining these socialist values, under the wider CNRM and later CNRT umbrella organization, the primary overarching goal was to liberate East Timor from occupation regardless of political ideologies.
Membership of the CNRT began with the small community of urban elite who had received education from the Portuguese; together they formed the ASDT. However, when this widened into the FRETILIN national liberation movement, substantial support was gained from the East Timorese population. This resulted from the mobilization of Revolutionary Brigades in April 1975, which consisted of then-FRETILIN leaders and students from urban areas moving to rural villages to implement literacy education programs and assist with farming. The Revolutionary Brigades also established associations for the protection and development of rights for women, students and workers. As well as gaining the support of the rural population, the group gained increasing support from the emerging urban youth-led clandestine resistance against the Indonesian occupation during the eighties.
CNRT, then known as FRETILIN, also had an external wing formed from key members that had been abroad at the time of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. This enabled the group to draw support from the Timorese diaspora in Australia, Portugal and Macau in China. During the brief period between August and December 1975, when the Portuguese colonial authorities had fled East Timor and before Indonesia invaded, then-FRETILIN formed a de facto government with a Central Committee. This 52-member committee provided key leadership and direction for the group.
FALINTIL (Forcas Armandas Libertacao de Timor Leste: Armed Forces of National Liberation of East Timor) was the armed wing of the CNRT. It had 20 000 troops in 1975 but by 1978, this figure had dropped to 1000. After this, FALINTIL troop size estimates remained consistent between the range of 100 to 1000; apart from when the group itself claimed to have 6000 troops in 1998. However, alternative estimates placed the amount at 200. Formed during the summer of 1975, FALINTIL began as the armed wing of FRETILIN, which determined all political decisions whilst FALINTIL took responsibility for all military decisions. However, FALINTIL officially separated from FRETILIN and ceased to be its armed wing in December 1987. Instead, it became a non-partisan fighting force for the overarching national resistance movement, CNRT, which FRETILIN also became a part of in 1988. FALINTIL operated with a clear military structure despite lacking formally trained military leaders; in 1975, 10 000 of its troops had undertaken brief military courses, 7000 had military training from the Portuguese and 2500 were professional military personnel. When FALINTIL withdrew into the forested highlands of East Timor after the Government of Indonesia took over East Timor in December 1975, it also had access to a sizeable amount of light and modern weapons that had been abandoned or turned over to their troops by Portuguese military sympathizers. Its strategy was to maintain fixed areas of liberation but it transitioned into a fully mobile campaign of guerilla warfare in 1981. FALINTIL did not receive any support from overseas; rather it depended wholly upon then-FRETILIN activitists, who mobilized small groups in a clandestine resistance movement to provide the guerilla fighters with critical food, ammunition, information and communication channels between the rural and urban centers. It initially waged a strong guerilla warfare campaign against the Government of Indonesia throughout the late 70s and into the early 80s. However, FALINTIL’s fighting power substantially decreased over time due to military losses, disease, fatigue and a lack of medical facilities. Consequently, the difficulty of achieving independence militarily forced FRETILIN to pursue more diplomatic methods from the late eighties onwards, such as membership of the CNRM (later CNRT) in 1988. After FALINTIL realigned as the non-partisan fighting force of the CNRM (later CNRT), it continued carrying out smaller, targeted attacks to support the political objective of the CNRT until the voluntary cantonment of its last 670 troops in 1999.
Francisco Xavier de Amaral was the original president of the early ASDT; he had been educated at a Jesuit seminary in Macau, China before working for the colonial customs service. Within the group, Amaral was a centrist and he remained as president until being deposed by Nicolau dos Reis Lobato in 1977. Amaral subsequently remained under house arrest in Jakarta, Indonesia for 22 years until returning to East Timor in 1999 and unsuccessfully contesting the presidential elections in 2001. The charismatic centrist, Lobato, led FRETILIN until he was killed in on 31 December 1978 by Indonesian forces. Following this, the group endured internal disputes over leadership and tactics. In fact, the period between September 1977 and February 1979 was particularly unstable for FRETILIN’s leadership as targeting of the critical Central Committee led to only 3 of its original 52 members surviving. Nonetheless, José Alexandre (Xanana) Gusmão, who had previously been a journalist and poet, was a key surviving member of FRETILIN. He served as Commander-in-Chief of FALINTIL, the armed wing of FRETILIN, before forming the separate CNRM umbrella organization to unite all the liberation groups regardless of ideology in May 1987. Under his leadership, FALINTIL departed from FRETILIN to become the non-partisan fighting force of CNRM (later CNRT) seven months later; to emphasise the non-partisan nature, Gusmão also resigned from FRETILIN. Gusmão served as President of CNRM (later CNRT) despite being imprisoned by the Government of Indonesia in November 1992. He was removed from the position in 1998 but after his release from prison in, Gusmão won against Amaral in national elections to become President of the first independent Government of East Timor in 2002. José Ramos-Horta was one of the earliest members of CNRT, when it first formed in 1974 as ASDT. He had been a journalist and had drafted the ASDT’s manifesto calling for independence for East Timor after ten years of preparation. During 1975 and 1999, Ramos-Horta was in political exile and worked to garner support for CNRT as its international spokesperson. Along with Timorese Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, who represented the Roman Catholic church in the CNRT umbrella organization, Ramos-Horta and Belo received the Nobel Peace Prize for their work contributing to the just and peaceful solution to the East Timor conflict in 1996.
CNRT did not receive any secondary warring support but it received modest yet valuable political support from the ex-Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique. For example, the Government of Mozambique issued José Ramos-Horta with a diplomatic passport that enabled him to travel globally to carry out his work.
