Editing History of Timor-Leste (section)

===Unilateral declaration of independence===
{{See also|Proclamation of Independence Day (Timor-Leste)#History|Democratic Republic of East Timor (1975)}}
While Fretilin had sought the return of the Portuguese governor, pointedly flying the Portuguese flag from government offices, the deteriorating situation meant that it had to make an appeal to the world for international support, independently of Portugal.

On 28 November 1975, Fretilin made a [[unilateral declaration of independence]] of the ''[[Democratic Republic of East Timor (1975)|Democratic Republic of East Timor]]'' (''República Democrática de Timor-Leste'' in Portuguese). This was not recognised by either Portugal, Indonesia, or Australia; however, the UDI state received formal diplomatic recognition from six countries that were led by leftist or Marxist–Leninist parties, namely [[Socialist People's Republic of Albania|Albania]], [[Cape Verde]], [[Guinea]], [[Guinea-Bissau]], [[People's Republic of Mozambique|Mozambique]], and [[São Tomé and Príncipe]]. Fretilin's [[Francisco Xavier do Amaral]] became the first president, while Fretilin leader [[Nicolau dos Reis Lobato]] was prime minister.<ref>{{cite web |title=Declaration of Independence |url=http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?p=29&lang=en |website=Timor-Leste gov |access-date=17 December 2021 |archive-date=17 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211217111645/http://timor-leste.gov.tl/?p=29&lang=en |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=East Timor: Indonesia's invasion and the long road to independence |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/30/east-timor-indonesias-invasion-and-the-long-road-to-independence |access-date=17 December 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=29 August 2019 |archive-date=5 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205001124/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/30/east-timor-indonesias-invasion-and-the-long-road-to-independence |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=A Piece Of The Story Of East Timor's Independence From Portugal Then Indonesia Was "annexed" |url=https://voi.id/en/memori/473/a-piece-of-the-story-of-east-timors-independence-from-portugal-then-indonesia-was-annexed |access-date=17 December 2021 |publisher=VOI |date=28 November 2019 |archive-date=17 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211217111643/https://voi.id/en/memori/473/a-piece-of-the-story-of-east-timors-independence-from-portugal-then-indonesia-was-annexed |url-status=live }}</ref>

Indonesia's response was to have UDT, Apodeti, KOTA and Trabalhista leaders sign a declaration calling for integration with Indonesia called the ''[[Balibo]] Declaration'', although it was drafted by Indonesian intelligence and signed in [[Bali]], Indonesia not Balibo, Portuguese Timor. [[Xanana Gusmão]], now the country's prime minister, described this as the 'Balibohong Declaration', a [[pun]] on the [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] word for 'lie'.

Fretilin restored the original administrative posts, hoping to shore up local support by more closely reflecting traditional kingdoms.<ref name="Scambary2021"/>{{rp|280}}