East Timor revels in new freedom

The crowd fell silent as the choir sang

Throughout the day tens of thousands of East Timorese have been gathering at dusty field outside the capital, Dili, to celebrate the birth of a nation.

Young men stripped to the waist with Timorese national flags wrapped around their chests mingled with old women in their Sunday best, clogging roads to Taci Tolo - the official venue for the midnight declaration of independence.

Now we are really free for the first time. We never dreamed of anything like this.

Alfonso Marques, 16

The festivities include live music, an elaborate fireworks display and the raising of East Timor's flag - a white star on a background of red, yellow and black.

A flock of doves and bunches of white balloons soared into the twilight sky to ecstatic applause, as East Timor gets its first taste of freedom after 450 years of foreign rule.

"Now we are really free for the first time," said Alfonso Marques, 16, just hours before independence was to be officially proclaimed at midnight (1500 GMT). "We never dreamed of anything like this."

Giant crocodile

Throughout the day truckloads of cultural performers in traditional head dress and sarongs, and nuns in white robes joined the crowds on the road to Taci Tolo.

Gusmao urged people to put the past behind them

Some walked, others rode motorbikes or hung out of the boot of taxis. At least 100,000 people are expected to attend the late-night ceremony.

Traditional drumming fell silent as a procession of red-robed bishops and white-clad priests and altar boys carrying crucifixes and candles entered the venue at sunset.

A choir of nuns and church groups burst into a hymn as the hushed crowd sat on the grass and lit candles.

"I am overjoyed," said Fernando Pintu, 17. "This is our very first taste of freedom. There is no more chaos now."

"We are free. Now, we cannot be intimidated by anyone," said Justino Vieira, a 22-year-old student.

A 15-meter (50-foot)-long float, in the shape of a crocodile with a little boy sitting atop it, was wheeled into the arena.

Legend has it that Timor island was once a giant crocodile befriended by a local boy, who then rode the oceans on its back.

Bitter memories

But organisers stressed the heavy price paid for freedom from neighbouring Indonesia.

East Timor's hard-won flag is everywhere

The crowd was transfixed as old television footage showing corpses of resistance fighters and graphic pictures of torture victims was played on a large screen.

Footage of the November 1991 Santa Cruz cemetery massacre, which fuelled international protests against Indonesia's bloody occupation, was also shown.

During 24 years of Indonesian rule and a protracted guerrilla war against Jakarta, an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 East Timorese died.