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 continued clashes in the strife-torn region.

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. Asked about the entry of UN forces, he said this would happen at the appropriate time, ie when a decision has been taken regarding the option that is being offered.

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 Jakarta.

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

Some 150 paramilitaries who were trained by ABRI in East Timor to attack pro-independence activists arrived in Jakarta by ship on Friday 16 April.

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-independence groups instead.

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 and accuses the Indonesian military of colluding with militia forces in the lead-up to the incident.

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-Indonesian militia in the East Timorese capital on Saturday.

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. At dusk yesterday the streets were empty as people hurried home to avoid militia patrols, some escorted by Indonesian soldiers.

"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 weekend", Amnesty International said.

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.

Peter Cole-Adams – No strategy is less flattering to a government than playing a waiting game. The appearance of impotence is unbecoming and, if the wait ends in failure, downright humiliating.

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 in East Timor's conflict, the military said.

Christine Tjandraningsih, Jakarta – Indonesian military officials rejected claims Friday troops are planning to initiate violence in East Timor to scuttle a scheduled autonomy plebiscite for the territory and upcoming ministerial talks in New York.

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.

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 use of helicopters, aircraft, field hospitals and 70 four-wheel drive vehicles.

[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 leader Xanana Gusmao refused to back away from a call for his supporters to take up arms to defend themselves.

John Aglionby, Dili – East Timorese paramilitaries loyal to the Indonesian government took their campaign of fear into the centre of the capital, Dili, for the first time yesterday as the civilian governor admitted that anarchy was "erupting everywhere" across the territory.

Emma Tinkler, Sydney – Provocateurs from within the ranks of the Indonesian military had incited violence in the nation's troubled provinces, Australian missionaries said today.

Dili – At least one person was killed and another seriously injured after a clash between hundreds of members of pro-independence and anti-independence groups in East Timor, police and local residents said Saturday.

United Nations - A senior UN official warned Friday amid escalating violence in East Timor that peace in the former Portuguese colony was a "prerequisite" for a UN-organized ballot.

Jakarta – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said here Friday threats to their security had prevented them from helping the victims of the Liquisa massacre in East Timor.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Reports of the Liquica massacre in East Timor are beginning to overshadow resistance leader Xanana Gusmao's controversial statements earlier this week – which is just as well for the resistance leader's diplomatic standing.

Angela Tresnasari, Jakarta – Indonesia on Friday threatened to put East Timor guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao back in jail unless he retracted a call to arms within a week.

Justice Minister Muladi delivered the ultimatum four days after Gusmao, now under house arrest in Jakarta, called for an insurrection against Indonesian rule in his restive homeland.

Tommy Ardiansyah, Dili – Pro-Jakarta militias rallied in East Timor on Thursday, calling pro-independence leader Xanana Gusmao's call for popular insurrection an offer of war.

Jakarta – Six East Timorese activists holed up in the Austrian embassy in Jakarta since September 1997 left the diplomatic premises on Tuesday, according to former FRETILIN president Abilio Araujo.

Liquica – The church was no sanctuary. Neither was the priest's house, where for all their scrubbing, nuns had yet to wash away all the blood on Thursday.

Two days after pro-Indonesian militiamen invaded a church complex in East Timor, shooting and cutting down villagers, the massacre site was abandoned save for a few grazing goats and half a dozen nuns.

Karen Polglaze, Dili – Behind a drooping curtain in a poorly-lit clinic in rural East Timor, a technician armed with a microscope and a belief in the World Health Organisation (WHO) is fighting to save lives.

Dili – Nobel peace laureate Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo accused Indonesian-backed militia on Wednesday of massacring more than 25 people in East Timor outside a church.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – In a dramatic escalation of violence in East Timor, the jailed resistance leader Jose "Xanana" Gusmao called on his supporters yesterday to take up arms and fight Indonesian-backed militia groups.

United Nations – The United Nations on Tuesday issued a new appeal to the East Timorese and Indonesia not to derail political talks but rejected a call for a UN peacekeeping force to stop violence.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was "seriously concerned by continuing reports from East Timor of an escalation of violence," his spokesman Fred Eckhard said in a statement.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Foreign Minister Ali Alatas on Tuesday accused pro-independence East Timorese of a disinformation campaign to portray Jakarta as destroying moves to peacefully resolve the territory's future.

Jakarta – The following information reached the office of the CNRT President, Xanana Gusmco at 9.30pm (Jakarta time):

Jakarta – Pro-Indonesia militiamen and troops killed at least 17 people, wounding dozens more, in an attack Monday on an East Timorese village near Liquiga, a resistance spokesman told Lusa.

For the past couple of months, we have received daily information pointing to a deterioration of the situation in East Timor.

Today, we received new information that civilian militias backed up by ABRI opened fire this morning on the population in Mauboke (Maubara, Liquica district, west of Dili), killing four and seriously injuring at least seven others.

Washington – The State Department on Monday called "dangerous and troubling" news that detained East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao now favors a return to armed struggle.

Spokesman James Rubin also voiced US concern about continuing violence in the former Portuguese territory.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Hopes of a peaceful United Nations-supervised vote to decide East Timor's future are fading amid escalating tension among rival Timorese activists and an attack on Indonesia's armed forces commander, General Wiranto, by the resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao.

Dili – The calling back of thousands of East Timorese students currently pursuing studies in various cities throughout Indonesia has been deplored. Students would be better off concentrating on their studies. Not all students supported either independence or integration for the territory.

It is hard to see how worse bloodshed can be avoided without much stronger international pressure on Jakarta to pull its troops into line, writes Brian Toohey.

Alexander Downer could be excused for wondering whatever happened to the famed special relationship between the Australian military and the Indonesian military now that it is needed.

Sydney – Australia will contribute to a UN peacekeeping force in East Timor if a peaceful transition in the province could not be realized otherwise, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Wednesday.

Jakarta – East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao said Wednesday that a broad autonomy package offered by Indonesia to the troubled territory carried the message – integration or civil war.

Jakarta – East Timor's detained rebel chief Wednesday accused the Indonesian military of conspiring to undermine a planned vote on autonomy in the Indonesian-controlled territory.

Indonesia has been arming civilian militias in East Timor to create chaos that will sabotage the vote, which is expected in July, guerrilla leader Jose Alexandre Gusmao said.

Lewa Pardomuan, Jakarta – Portugual's envoy to Indonesia on Wednesday urged the United Nations to help secure peace in the troubled province of East Timor in the run-up to a vote on autonomy likely later this year.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Pro-independence Timorese leaders plan to seize millions of dollars' worth of properties in East Timor acquired by the family of disgraced former president Soeharto during Indonesia's 23-year rule of the former Portuguese colony.

Karen Polglaze, Dili – Bony arms raise gnarled hands in a shaky Mexican wave as the call to salute rings out across the buckled, weed-infested square of the village of Maubara.

Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – A local government authority in East Timor has begun a compulsory survey of all public servants to find out if they support independence for the troubled province, observers said.

The regent of Bobonaro, Guilherme Dos Santos, issued the instruction on March 24 requiring all employees in the town of Maliana to fill in a form stating their views.

Canberra – The federal opposition has backed East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao's call for pro-integrationist militias to be disarmed urgently.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton today supported Mr Gusmao's view that a democratic process would be jeopardised if these militia groups remained armed in the lead up to a ballot on independence.

Dili – Three people were killed Friday after Indonesian soldiers opened fire while trying to catch a suspected killer in East Timor, police said.

Bacau district police chief Major S.C. Marpaung said the soldiers were chasing a suspected murderer, identified as Faria, when they opened fire in Gariwai village in Baucua district.

Karen Polglaze, Dili – East Timor's armed resistance force Falintil for the first time overnight engaged in a shoot-out with a pro-integration paramilitary force, a Catholic source said today.

The three hour shoot-out was the result of a surprise attack by the Halilintar paramilitary group on a secret meeting of Falintil guerrillas, the source said.