New York – The people of East Timor will be asked to to choose between two questions in the territory's August 8 plebiscite.

New York – The two main East Timor opposition parties, FRETILIN and the UDT (Timorese Democratic Union), want the UN to guarantee that their leaders resident abroad will be allowed to r

[FORTILOS received the following information today from Yayasan HAK, Dili, Timor Lorosae.]

Jakarta – Indonesian Justice Minister Muladi said Monday he believed jailed East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao should be released so he can make a greater contribution to peace efforts

Mark Dodd, Dili – Pro-Indonesian paramilitary groups formed and in some cases armed by the Indonesian military are continuing their campaign of violence and intimidation only days away

Jakarta – Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) Marzuki Darusman has said the defiance of East Timor's pro-integration militias against any United Nations (UN) p

Jakarta – Police suspect 11 victims found in a mass grave in East Timor were members an anti-independence militia group that has been accused of carrying out attacks and atrocities agai

Simon Ingram, Bali – A leading activist for independence in East Timor has fled the territory with members of his family saying he intends to seek asylum in Australia.

Dili – Violence by militias has risen so sharply ahead of an August 8 vote on autonomy from Indonesia that a UN peacekeeping force is needed in East Timor, human rights groups said on T

Sydney – Reports that a document has been made public by Amnesty International which comes from a group called Red Blood Commando (Komando Darah Merah) saying they will "cleanse" Dili o

Jakarta – 150 students who went to Timor ro assist in the reconciliation process were forced to return to Java following threats from Eurico Guterres, head of the Aitarak militia, deman

In a statement issued on his behalf by his lawyer, Hendardi, chair of the PBHI, Xanana Gusmao, the president of the CNRT said that generally speaking, nothing new had emerged from the m

John McBeth, Jakarta – The flyer from the East Timor Pro-Integration Information Centre billed it as an "Invade Dili" rally.

Cameron Stewart – The size of the planned UN observer force to East Timor next month may need to be increased because of unstable security in the territory, senior officials say.

Democratisation in Indonesia has forced president Suharto to end his 32 years of rule.

[The following statement drafted by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor is being circulated for endorsement.

On Monday, 26 April, FOKUPERS received news from a resident of Liquisa that ABRI has threatened people living in the countryside, in places remote from the town of Liquisa, to move into

Peter Hartcher – John Howard's emergency summit today with the President of Indonesia is not the high-risk event as advertised - both men want the same thing.

Nusa Dua – Indonesian President B.J. Habibie said on Tuesday he fully accepted a UN-brokered autonomy package for troubled East Timor and that his government would sign it on May 5.

Mark Riley – It was promoted as a historic event, an agreement on self-determination for East Timor after 24 years of hostile occupation and the loss of more than 200,000 lives.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) is seriously concerned about the further acts of violence and the deaths of civilians in Dili, the capital city of East Timor, on Saturday, Ap

Dili – At least eight people and possibly as many as 100 have died in attacks by pro-Jakarta militias on pro-independence supporters in East Timor, a local priest told Reuters Friday.

Jakarta – The East Timor pro-independence movement on Thursday claimed that the Indonesian military had conducted attacks on bases of rebel forces in two districts, just a day after it

The decision by the Habibie regime in 1998 to offer "the widest possible autonomy", including a separate electoral system, flag, and so on, was a retreat by the Habibie regime from the

Paul Kelly – Indonesia's President B. J. Habibie yesterday gave his personal word of honour that he was prepared to give East Timor independence.

Dili – Leaders of warring factions in the troubled Indonesian territory of East Timor on Wednesday signed a peace pact witnessed by Indonesia's military chief and East Timor's two bisho

Human Rights Watch charged that the government of President Habibie could have prevented the violence in East Timor on Saturday by acting earlier to disarm pro-Indonesia militias.

Hamish Mcdonald – Well-placed sources in Jakarta have supplied what could be the jigsaw pieces that make sense of the puzzling Indonesian policy on East Timor in recent months.

David Jenkins – As East Timor descends into a new round of violence and savagery the time has come for searching questions to be asked of President B. J.

Things are quiet in Dili.

Jakarta – Indonesian Justice Minister Muladi and jailed East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao on Monday agreed there had been no call for war in the troubled territory against Jakart

Jenny Grant – The Indonesian military not only turned a blind eye to Saturday's militia attacks in Dili but had prior knowledge of the planned targets at the most senior level, diplomat

ABRI commander General Wiranto said that East Timor is still part of Indonesia and that any violations of the law by either side are intolerable.

Mark Riley, New York – Indonesia is believed to have gutted the proposed statute of autonomy for East Timor, removing many of the major components and increasing the likelihood of conti

[The following report was received today from Fortilos and posted on the conferences in Bahasa Indonesia: Translated by Tapol.]

Tommy Ardiansyah, Dili – Indonesia's military Sunday rejected the blame for bloody violence that killed dozens of people in the disputed territory of East Timor, accusing pro-independen

Dili – They lay hugging the floor, screaming and weeping in terror as the shots and rocks blasted through the windows at the front of the house, trapped and unarmed.

Jakarta – The Nobel laureate Roman Catholic Bishop of Dili, Carlos Ximenes Felipe Belo, said Saturday he was scrapping a planned peace mass Sunday in the wake of a deadly rampage by pro

Diarmid O'Sullivan, Dili – Tensions are rising in the East Timorese capital, Dili, as thousands of pro-Indonesian militiamen pour in for a show of force today.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – A confidential Australian embassy report on the killing of East Timorese civilians in the town of Liquica concludes that allegations of a massacre are plausible

"The Indonesian Government and Armed Forces (ABRI) are failing to protect East Timorese pro-independence supporters despite warnings of attacks by paramilitaries in East Timor, this wee

Peter Cole-Adams – No strategy is less flattering to a government than playing a waiting game.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The Portuguese colonialists who ruled East Timor for more than 400 years are fondly remembered for introducing Timorese to the art of the siesta.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – The United Nations is planning a military-style operation to support its supervision of a scheduled July vote in violence-racked East Timor that includes the

Dili – Armed pro-Indonesian militias are enforcing a reign of fear in the East Timorese capital Dili where terrified residents increasingly feel abandoned to their fate.

Christine Tjandraningsih, Jakarta – Indonesian military officials rejected claims Friday troops are planning to initiate violence in East Timor to scuttle a scheduled autonomy plebiscit

Dili – A clash between Indonesian soldiers and pro-independence guerrillas today left three people dead, including the brother of one of Indonesia's top diplomats and a key negotiator i

[The following summarises a report from Yayasan HAK which was circulated in Bahasa by Fortilos.]

Lindsay Murdoch and Mark Dodd, Jakarta – Pro-Indonesian forces vowed yesterday to stage an "invade Dili" rally in the East Timorese capital on Saturday after Timorese independence leade