Mark Dodd, Dili - Amid emotional scenes, the organisation that united ordinary East Timorese in the struggle to end Indonesian rule dissolved itself on Thursday evening.
The end of the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) was accompanied by a moving declaration and an appeal for unity as East Timor prepared for the next step in its transition to independence: national elections for self-government.
At its final congress in Dili this week, the CNRT leader, the former guerrilla commander Jose "Xanana" Gusmao, praised members for their courage in deciding to dissolve the organisation. He also announced, not for the first time, that he would step down from public office to become an ordinary citizen.
Few believe he will stay an ordinary citizen for long and he remains the popular choice for president of the world's newest country.
Alongside the Falintil guerrillas, CNRT was the major player in East Timor's fight for independence. Formed in 1998, it united anti-Indonesian groups and rival political parties to forge a common front in the battle for independence, a goal now within months of attainment.
The CNRT name and flag were chosen by the United Nations to be used on the ballot paper to represent the independence vote in the 1999 referendum that ended 24 years of Indonesian rule. Hundreds of its supporters were hunted down in the bloodbath that followed the vote.
In a speech at the start of CNRT's final three-day conference, Mr Gusmao hailed the heroism of its members. "As a human being it is hard sometimes to accept reality and to close everything down. It is hard as an organisation which was so highly motivated to lead the people of East Timor towards independence and that now faces a new context," he said.
That new context is national elections for an 88-seat Constituent Assembly scheduled for August 30, the second anniversary of the independence referendum. The dissolution of CNRT will allow its members to join or form political parties that will now compete with one another.
Jorge Trindade Neves de Camoes, one of the younger generation of CNRT members and an official on its judicial commission, said it was an appropriate time to dissolve the umbrella group because its role was diminishing. "No, I don't think there will be problems," he said, referring to the prospect of former CNRT members in opposing camps.
"We have urged the political leaders to sign a national unity pact to show their commitment to ensure stability and security and to start this democratic process we have aspired for so long," he said.
CNRT evolved from a earlier anti-Indonesian front, the National Council of Maubere Resistance, set up by Mr Gusmao and his colleagues in 1982 as a non-partisan front to serve the independence struggle after the near obliteration of resistance to Indonesia in the late 1970s.
As a broad political forum, CNRT had roots that tapped deep into traditional East Timorese society. This influence was invaluable in establishing the so-called Clandestine Network during the resistance struggle. Its legacy endures today, with CNRT leaders often sought as arbitrators, welfare providers and primary sources of information for remote communities.
In the absence of a properly functioning legal system at a district and village level, local CNRT leaders were and are still called on to resolve disputes. Their word is usually final. So popular and familiar is CNRT to most East Timorese that many had believed the organisation could transform itself into a single party.
With its closing declaration, CNRT's final act was a call for all parties contesting the August elections to sign a national unity pact. It appealed for the new government to make use of former members and learn from their experience in the challenge of nation building.
It also demanded that the state assume responsibility for CNRT war veterans, widows, orphans and the disabled, and called on the Constituent Assembly to form a commission to report on the number of East Timorese who died in the fight for independence and to erect a monument to their memory.