Nino Konis Santana

Graffiti with Nino Konis Santana (right) and Nicolau dos Reis Lobato in Naeboruc

Nino Konis Santana (* 12. January 1957 in Vero , Portuguese Timor ; † 11. March 1998 in Mertuto , East Timor ), actually José ( Zé ) Conisso António Santana was from April 1993 until his accidental death in 1998 the chief of FALINTIL , the military arm of the East Timorese resistance against the Indonesian occupation (1975–1999).

Life

During the Portuguese colonial rule, Konis was born in the far east of the island of Timor in the village of Vero in Suco Tutuala / municipality of Lospalos . He belonged to the dominant ethnic group there, the Fataluku . Konis trained in a Catholic school and worked in the region as a teacher until the Indonesian invasion in December 1975.

1974 to 1975 Konis was the head of the East Timorese student organization UNETIM , which was linked to the new FRETILIN party . As a member of the electoral commission, he prepared the first elections in Portuguese Timor , which were carried out as a test in the Lospalos district on March 13, 1975 and should prepare the colony for independence. Most of the candidates from FRETILIN prevailed. This proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of East Timor on November 28, 1975 . Just a few days later, Indonesian troops landed in the country.

Konis joined the resistance in the mountains and became the representative of the Lospalos military region . After giving up base camps in 1981, he became a member of the contact group headed by FALINTIL commander Xanana Gusmão . In 1982 Gusmão named Konis his political assistant. In 1988 Santana became one of three deputies to Ma'huno Bulerek Karathayano , Secretary of the FRETILIN Directive Committee (CDF). Konis was ambushed by Indonesians in 1990 and was shot in the neck, thigh and foot. In 1991 Konis was based in Ermera , as plans were made to extend the fighting to the Indonesian western part of the island . Here he built a small chapel dedicated to the Holy Mother of Fatima . When Gusmão was captured by the Indonesians in November 1992, Ma'huno took over the leadership of FALINTIL. Konis became a member of the Military Political Committee . In April Ma'huno was also captured and Konis became the new commander of the FALINTIL. At FRETILIN Konis was secretary of the directive committee.

Konis was killed in a fall in thick fog in 1998 while trying to climb into a hidden shelter. The bullet from the 1990 wound, still stuck in the thigh, is said to have been one of the reasons for the fall. His successor as head of FALINTIL was Taur Matan Ruak . Konis was initially buried in Mertuto. He was exhumed on December 9, 2012. After a traditional ceremony in Lospalos , the body was buried on December 20th in the National Heroes' Cemetery in Metinaro .

In 2007, the Nino Konis Santana National Park, East Timor's first national park, was named after Konis near his birthplace Tutuala . A new species of fish discovered there in 2013 in the shallow water of the coast was also named after the guerrilla chief, the goby Eviota santanai . The Nino Konis Santana High School is located in Gleno . Posthumous cones were awarded the Ordem das Falintil and the Ordem de Timor-Leste (Collar).

literature

• Jill Jolliffe : Finding Santana ( English )
• José Mattoso: "A Dignidade - Konis Santana ea Resistência Timorense" ( Portuguese )

Web links

Commons : Nino Konis Santana  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Website of the President of East Timor: Nino Konis Santana ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 17, 2014 
2. ↑ Pictures of the ceremony on the President's Facebook page
3. ↑ Country's First New Species of Fish Discovered, December 11, 2013 , accessed December 13, 2013
4. ↑ List of polling stations for the parliamentary elections in East Timor 2007 (PDF file; 118 kB)
5. ↑ Diário de Notícias: Presidente timorense condecora 46 veteranos da luta contra a ocupação indonésia , November 26, 2018 , accessed on April 15, 2019.