Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies ISSN-e: 2255-3479 Luís Manuel Brás Bernardino Lieutenant Colonel of Infantry DEM E-mail:
[email protected] Álvaro António Moreira dos Santos Artillery Commander DEM E-mail:
[email protected] THE PORTUGUESE CONTRIBUTION TO THE CREATION OF THE FALIN- TIL– DEFENCE FORCES OF EAST TI- MOR Abstract In the year 2000, as a result of the process of state-building in the post- conflict situation in East Timor and with the support of international donors, the Transitional Administration of the United Nations agreed to create the Falintil-East Timor Defence Forces constituted from the Armed Forces of Liberation and Independence of East Timor. This pa- per seeks to reflect on Portugal’s contributions to this process of trans- formation and development which took place between 2000 and 2016. It maintains that foreign Portuguese policy has supported the state- building process in East Timor, essentially in the domain of defence, by establishing mutual Military Cooperation agreements. Keywords East-Timor, Portugal, Falintil; Falintil- East Timor Defence Forces, Military Cooperation. Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos n.º 12 - Año: 2018 - Págs.: 299 a 323 299 Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies Núm. 12 / 2018 To quote this article: BRAS, L.M y MOREIRA, A.A. “The Portuguese contribution to the creation of the Falintil– Defence Forces of East Timor”. Journal of the Spanish Institute for Strategic Studies. 2018, n.º 12, pp. Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos n.º 12 - Año: 2018 - Págs.: 299 a 323 300 Luis Manuel Brás Bernardino & Álvaro António Moreira dos Santos The portuguese..