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East Timor declares its independence in joyous ceremony 05/19/2002 By STEVEN GUTKIN / Associated Press DILI, East Timor East Timor, a land long brutalized by foreign occupiers, was declared independent Monday in a joyous ceremony in this seaside capital, and took its place among the community of nations. The world's newest country came into being minutes after midnight with a dazzling display of fireworks, a solemn declaration of independence by parliamentary speaker Fransisco Guterres and a speech by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. "I declare the establishment of the Democratic Republic of East Timor as an independent and sovereign...