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- February 21 - Just after 7 p.m., Tuesday, February 20th the Madison Common Council voted
unanimously to to establish the first official U.S.-East Timor sister city
relationship between Madison, Wisconsin, and Ainaro, East Timor.
"International solidarity with East Timor is especially important now as
the East Timorese face the difficult tasks of reconstruction and
nation-building," said Madison-Ainaro Sister Alliance member Tom Foley.
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold and Rep. Tammy Baldwin contacted the council in
support of the sister city resolution. Feingold called the partnership "invaluable", and Baldwin stated "person-to-person contacts are critically
important in building a peaceful world community."
The Southeast Asian island nation of East Timor will likely become
independence within the year after voting ovewhelmingly for independence in
1999. However, the military did not leave the country peacefully following
the 1999 referendum on independence from Indonesia. According to the United
Nations, the Indonesian military and its militia destroyed 70 percent of
all buildings in East Timor and forced three-quarters of the population
from their homes.
Ainaro, a mountain town in the southwest of the country, was especially
hard hit by the violence. Over 95 percent of the buildings in Ainaro were
levelled, including the only hospital and all the town's schools. East
Timor is currently under U.N. admininstraton.
For more information see http://www.etan.org.
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