In 1999, with the help of U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan, the East Timorese people were allowed to choose via referendum their fate. More than 80% of the country
voted in favour of an independent Timor-Leste. Unfortunately, this was not the end of the atrocities, as Indonesian armed forces hit back brutally, with may of the East Timorese population being displaced and forced to relocate in West Timor and the surrounding islands, while still others hid in the mountains. Around two thousand people were killed.