World’s eye on East Timor

Years ago, a top Indonesian diplomat brushed off international criticism of his nation’s brutal occupation of East Timor, calling the territory nothing more than ‘‘a pebble in our shoe’’.

Years ago, a top Indonesian diplomat brushed off international criticism of his nation’s brutal occupation of East Timor, calling the territory nothing more than ‘‘a pebble in our shoe’’.

But Indonesia never pacified East Timor and was vilified globally over human rights abuses there. Now the former Portuguese colony is evolving into a perennial problem for the international community.

The United Nations, which tried to create a stable state after East Timor’s bloody break with Indonesia in 1999, is likely to play a key role again because factional violence and political rifts have unraveled much of the work done before independence in 2002.

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Elections are scheduled for next year, and one proposal would have the UN assume direct supervision of the vote. Nearly seven years ago, East Timorese voted for self-rule in a UN-run ballot, triggering a wave of deadly attacks by pro-Indonesia militias.

East Timor’s ability to grab global attention despite its small size also reflects international guilt about the suffering that it endured during Indonesia’s 24-year occupation, analysts say. By some estimates, 200,000 East Timorese — one-third of the territory’s population in 1975 — were killed by the Indonesian military or died of starvation and disease linked to the conflict.

East Timor also looms large because of fears that failed states can become havens for terrorists. But Islamic militants might find it difficult to operate in East Timor because its population is mostly Roman Catholic, though a 2002 audiotape purportedly of Osama bin Laden suggested the deadly Bali bombings in 2002 were retaliation against Australian interference.

CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA