Macau – The vice-rector of the University of East Timor, and other three Timorese, are currently under surveillance and may be detained by the Indonesian authorities, local resistance sources have said.

Elizabeth Rau – Indonesian soldiers captured Constancio Pinto on his 28th birthday and beat him so severely over the next six days that his eyes swelled shut.

At one point, his captors pointed a gun at his head and threatened to fire if he didn't disclose details about the resistance movement on East Timor. "Drop him in the sea!" one soldier shouted.

Baltasar Sebastiao H Belo, Jose Maria Geronimo, Joao Budiono C Moraes (Joao Budiono da Costa), Gregorio Sequira Bento, Luis Afonso, Abel Fernandes, Felciano Maria martins, Oracio Viegas, Celestino Soares, Claudino Guterres (alias Alau), Jose do Rosario, Constancio Soares

All but four of those arrested in relation to disturbances in February in the Viqueque district of East Timor have now been released. Many are reported to have been subjected to torture or ill-treatment while in detention. The four still held are believed to be detained in the police headquarters in the town of Viqueque.

On Monday, March 18, 4-5 PM, activists from around the country will risk arrest at the Indonesian Embassy on 2020 Mass. Ave. in a demonstration against that nation's occupation of East Timor and its ongoing purchases of U.S. weapons.

Sydney – A pro-East Timor activist group has accused the Australian government of appeasing Indonesia and ignoring problems in the territory as the two countries signed an historic maritime treaty.

Geneva – Human rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI) has said that the human rights situation in East Timor is "extremely serious".

[Editorial page (unsigned editorials from the Times), full text.]

[Re posting re Ausaid to East Timor in the form of working with the Indonesian government to aid East Timor, specifically in the area of agriculture.]

Melbourne – Three East Timorese were killed during intense Indonesian military operations in the territory, a report by an Australian human rights watchdog has said.

Minister of State Moerdiono said that the Indonesian Government will not allow a recommendation to go forward from the UN Commission on Human Rights for the UN Human Rights High Commissioner to open an office in Jakarta. This would be a violation of Indonesia's sovereignty, he said.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government has rejected a plan by the United Nations to station a human rights commissioner in Jakarta to monitor the situation in East Timor, a newspaper said Friday.

Jakarta – Indonesian police in the East Timorese enclave of Ambeno have arrested nine people over ethnic unrest there last month, which left one migrant dead, The Jakarta Post reported yesterday.

Jakarta – Eight East Timorese men who entered the French embassy in Jakarta early on Tuesday will go to Portugal, an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

"We have been contacted by the French embassy and the Indonesian government and we are making the usual arrangements," an ICRC official, who asked not to be named, said.

[Interview with Mari Alkatiri, Fretilin secretary for external relations. Lisbon, Byline: Abel Coelho de Morais. Original Language: Portuguese.]

DN: According to recent reports, the situation in Timor has worsened. How would you describe Indonesia's activities in the territory?

On January 21, 1997, ETAN issued an Action Alert regarding the likely nomination of Stanley Roth as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, which had been floated in the Washington Post and other newspapers.

Matthew Jardine – "Hello, Mister. Where are you from?"

Dili, East Timor – The dossiers of the four suspects involved in the riots here last Dec 24 were returned by the District Attorney's Office to the police for lack of facts and evidences. Local district attorney JF Martanto on Monday said that with thereturn of the documents the police was given two weeks to complete the dossiers.

Ambeno, East Timor – Indonesian police have arrested three people and are hunting another who allegedly killed a man during unrest in East Timor last week which left more than 300 people homeless, The Jakarta Post reported yesterday.

According to The Sunday Age of South Africa on Sunday, 23 February, an employee at the Indonesian embassy in South Africa has asked for asylum and says that he is in possession of secret documents giving proof of corruption in Indonesia and relating to human rights violations in East Timor.

[A summary was posted earlier, but parts got mangled by an unstable line. (Not as bad as the truth is mangled by Indonesian reports on East Timor). Pedro T Coelho asked for a reposting, here done so by Wes, + comments.]

Washington – Increased political sensitivity here over U.S. ties to Indonesia has given advocates of independence for East Timor more hope of pressing Washington to support their cause, according to activists and government analysts alike.

In a few weeks time, Ireland's capital city will have a square named after the Timorese Resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao... The initiative is evidence of the interest and commitment to the East Timor cause that exists in the Republic.

Dili – An estimated 6,000 East Timorese have burned tens of houses owned by Indonesians migrants after local people became enraged by a slight against a Catholic priest who had been given a dinner-box containing leftover food on Wednesday evening.

Agencies in Dili and Jakarta – One man was killed and several others injured yesterday when 6,000 East Timorese set fire to the homes of migrant Muslims in reaction to reports a Catholic priest had been insulted at a Muslim gathering.

At least seven people were injured during the six-hour riot in Ambeno district in the former Portuguese colony.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre has received a report from reliable East Timorese sources relating to the suspected extra-judicial execution of four East Timorese men in October 1996.

Of those arrested in the Viqueque district of East Timor in relation to disturbances between 7 and 11 February, 105 have now been released, leaving at least four still in detention. According to reports, many of those that have been released were tortured or ill-treated while in custody.

What is described as a "process of decolonization" by Portugal is in fact a record of failure and ineptitude. In July 1975, the Portuguese government ordered formation of a transitional government for East Timor to prepare for the election in October 1976 of a Popular Assembly that was to take responsibility for determining the future status of the territory.

It came to my attention the article of Sunday Observer of December 15, 1996 by Charlotte Clayton. As the person recently often used by the Indonesian Government propaganda machine to denigrate the name of my brother Jose Ramos-Horta by using this so-called book "the Eyewitness" I wish to state publicly the following:

Canberra – Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told anti-integration activist Ramos Horta that Australia will not review its support to the East Timor integration to Indonesia.

Dili – Col Mahidin Simbolon, the East Timor military commander,firmly denied unconfirmed reports that six people were killed in a recent mass brawls in Uatolari sub-district, Viqueque, East Timor.

Adelaide – Australia has said that it will stand firm in its policy of recognizing East Timor's annexation by Indonesia while backing United Nations-sponsored talks to find a solution for the former Portuguese colony, East Timorese activist Jose Ramos Horta has said.

Manuel de Oliveira, Mateus Goncalves, Renato dos Santos, Antonio (no surname), Manuel Alves , Berta (no surname)

The East Timor Human Rights Centre has received a report about intensive military operations which took place in December 1996 in the village of Leo Rema, located on the border between the districts of Ermera and Liquica.

Geneva – The 1996 Nobel Peace Prize co-laureates, East Timorese Bishop D. Ximenes Belo and activist Jose Ramos Horta, have been invited for a joint news conference during the annual meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) scheduled for March in Geneva.

Names:

East Timorese activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jose Ramos Horta, has had talks in Adelaide with Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer.

The one-hour meeting was the first between Mr Ramos Horta and the Howard Government.

Mr Ramos Horta says he heard no change to government policy about the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.

Names: Acacio, 20;Adelino, 27;Agostinho Orlandor, 19;Agostinho, 19;Agustinho da Silva, 19;Alberto, 16;Aleixo da Carvalho, 24;Armando, 25;Armindo Soares, 30;Celestino Jerronimo;DomiNGOs Pinto, 22;Eduardo Amaral, 20;Egas, 20;Evangel Menezes, 22;Fransisco Jesus, 18;Fransisco Rangal, 23;Fransisco Ximenes, 28;Gaspar Pinto, 19;Gaspar, 18;Gaspar, 18;Joaquim, 25;Luis Gama, 20;Luis Pinto, 16

Tomas Caiware (35), Fransisco Ximenes (28), Celestino Jerronimo, Armindo Soares (30), Gaspar Pinto (19), Agostinho Orlandor (19), Evangel Menezes (22), Fransisco Jesus (18), Armando (25), Paulo (28), Paulo Soares (27), Adelino (27), Agustinho da Silva (19), Gaspar (18), Acacio (20), Napoleon Amaral (27), Luis (27), Luis (20), DomiNGOs Pinto (22), Eduardo Amaral (20), Alberto (16), L

Around one-hundred people are believed to have been detained by authorities in East Timor, following more than a week of unrest. Church sources say rioting was sparked by military heavyhandedness in the Viqueque district.

Indonesia correspondent Michael Maher reports:

One year on from the Scott Report, three organisations are threatening to take the Government to court for arming one of the world's most repressive .regimes, Indonesia. They have obtained unique photographic evidence which proves that the Government is breaching its own policies on arms exports and human rights.

Craig Skehan – New Zealand had created a foreign policy "headache" for Australia by revealing that it did not believe Indonesia's incorporation of East Timor was irreversible, according to a confidential foreign affairs department cable.

Ian McPhedran – The Indonesian Government has been severely embarrassed by a campaign of misinformation in the wake of a visit to Canberra last week by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta.

124 Napier St Fitzroy 3065 Australia.PO BOX 1413 Collingwood 3066 AustraliaTel: 61 3 9415 8225 Fax: 61 3 9416 2746E-mail: etchrmel@peg.apc.org

Director: Ms Maria Brett Chair: Bishop Hilton Deakin

Ref: UA 3/977 February 1997

Names:

Jakarta – The government-appointed National Commission on Human Rights will investigate allegations that military personnel raped an East Timorese woman last year, an English-language newspaper said Friday.

[It is interesting to note that "self-determination" is not included in ACFOA's recommendations - JB]

The Australian Council for Overseas Aid today welcomed the decision of the Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, to meet with Mr Jose Ramos Horta in Adelaide on Friday 14 February, 1997.

Sonny Inbaraj, Bangkok – It was a moral victory for the second Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor, or Apcet II as it was popularly known. The 50 Apcet II participants and 10 journalists covering the conference, who were arrested in Kuala Lumpur by Malaysian police last November, had all charges against them dropped last Friday by the attorney general.

Canberra – Nobel laureate Jose Ramos Horta urged Australia Wednesday to press for an end to the continuing conflict in East Timor by proposing measures such as a permanent UN presence in the province.

Paris – Four East Timorese youths who broke into the French embassy in Jakarta on Tuesday will leave for Portugal by Wednesday, the French foreign ministry in Paris said.

Jakarta – Four East Timorese broke into the French embassy here early Tuesday, an embassy source said. Embassy spokesman Dominique Roubert said they entered the embassy early Tuesday morning, but declined to elaborate further.

He did not state whether the four have sought political asylum.

"I confirm that there are four East Timorese at the embassy," Roubert said.

David Barber in Wellington – Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta and East Timor independence campaigners stormed out of New Zealand yesterday, leaving Foreign Minister Don McKinnon wondering: "What did I say?"

Mr Horta left, vowing he would not to return until the Government changed its policy towards the former Portuguese colony, now absorbed into Indonesia.