Twelve-year-old Julmira Babo collapsed unconscious while playing outside in her village in East Timor's Ermera district. Her family carried her to a hut and gave her traditional medicines but, a few days later, she died.

Denpasar – East Timor Attorney General Longuinhos Monteiro denied reports that his government had closed its investigation into the alleged involvement of former Indonesian military chief Wiranto in human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

It may not have quite the power of the image of Nelson Mandela applauding his former jailer, F.W. de Klerk, when the two were awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1993, but yesterday's beaming photo in The Australian of East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao and Indonesian presidential candidate General Wiranto was a stunner.

Rowan Callick – Two years after guiding his country to independence, East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos-Horta, is struggling to contain issues that threaten to set the impoverished nation at odds with both of its much bigger neighbours, Indonesia and Australia.

Nigel Wilson – Australia could face a compensation claim from East Timor for up to $US6 billion ($8.4 billion) because Australia did not halt production in the disputed oil fields of the Timor Sea.

Pamela Bone – Australia gives to poor countries with one hand and takes back with the other.

Lenore Taylor – Woodside Petroleum is increasingly wedged between a rock and a hard place as its multibillion-dollar Greater Sunrise joint venture becomes the bargaining chip in an increasingly bitter feud between the fledgling government of East Timor and Australia.

Dili – East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao returned home Monday from a weekend meeting with former Indonesian military chief General Wiranto to face dozens of angry demonstrators, demanding justice for atrocities committed by Indonesian forces in 1999.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao has publicly embraced the man accused of responsibility for the deaths of 1500 East Timorese.

In a dramatic sign of his determination for East Timor to put the past behind it, Mr Gusmao met former Indonesian armed forces commander Wiranto in Bali for two hours late on Saturday night.

East Timor's Foreign Minister on Sunday criticized his head of state's meeting with an Indonesian presidential candidate indicted for war crimes for his role in the killing of some 1,500 people during the half-island's 1999 fight for independence.

Dennis Shanahan – In a David and Goliath scenario, a row over oil revenues is threatening relations between Australia and its struggling neighbour East Timor

Jakarta – Despite strong opposition from a senior minister, East Timor President Xanana Gusmao is being firm in his decision to go ahead with a scheduled Saturday meeting in Bali with presidential aspirant Gen. (ret) Wiranto, who has been indicted by a United Nations-backed East Timorese court for crimes against humanity in the former Indonesian territory.

Sian Powell – For the East Timorese, it's simple. Scratch a diagram of the Timor Sea into the dirt, with the island of Timor on one side and the great landmass of Australia on the other, and draw a line between them.

Dili – Peacekeepers marked their withdrawal from Timor Leste yesterday, winding down a nearly five-year mission that ended Indonesia's brutal occupation and oversaw the birth of the world's newest nation.

Richard Ackland – "After all we've done for them," moaned Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister, on Four Corners a couple of Mondays ago. Those ungrateful East Timorese beating their wretched little chests and complaining about Australia wanting the lion's share of the oil and gas fields lying between the two countries.

Jon Lamb – Solidarity protests took place across Australia on May 20, the second anniversary of East Timor's independence. The actions condemned the Australian government for its refusal to negotiate a fair and just maritime boundary and for its ongoing theft of East Timor's oil and gas resources.

Jill Jolliffe, Darwin – Officially it was a day of celebration, but there was an undertone of pessimism at ceremonies in Dili last Thursday marking East Timor's second independence anniversary and the drastic cutback of the United Nations' peacekeeping mission.

Dennis Shanahan – Australia has pressured the leadership of the fledgling state of East Timor, warning it that more public attacks over oil rights could severely damage the relationship.

[The following is abridged from a statement issued on May 20 by the Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea (MKOTT).]

Dear Australian people,

Warm solidarity greetings from East Timor!

Sister Susan Connelly This anniversary is tinged with a lot of embarrassment for us as Australians. Despite all East Timor has been through, more often than not with Australian connivance and reluctance to help or tell the whole truth, today the Australian government is once again in the role of spoiler regarding the just sharing of the resources of the Timor Sea.

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Denpasar – Around 300 former refugees of Balinese descent stayed overnight in tents at Niti Mandala square in front of the Bali governor's office on Tuesday, demanding compensation for their property abandoned in 1999 when East Timor broke away from Indonesia.

Australia, already exploiting the wealth of the Timor Sea, has bright prospects of much more to come. East Timor, still waiting and dependent on aid from Australia and elsewhere, is impatient. Its determination to win a better deal on Timor Sea resources is straining relations with Australia in a way not seen since it won its independence, with Australia's help.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao says he has told his country's top law officer it is not in East Timor's interests to try to prosecute Indonesia's former military commander Wiranto for crimes against humanity.

East Timor's independence hero is furious with Australia, he tells Peter Hartcher in Dili.

Xanana Gusmao, the President of East Timor, has accused the Australian Government of pursuing a policy on the rich seabed oil reserves between the countries that "offends our intelligence".

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Backs straight, arms swinging, faces set: the East Timorese troops and police officers marched slowly past the assembled dignitaries at this week's independence celebrations in Dili's football stadium.

Jakarta – The Supreme Court said on Monday it upheld a conviction of crimes against humanity by a special tribunal against three Indonesians officials for their roles in the church killings of 27 East Timor independence supporters in 1999.

East Timor's Parliament has an unusual gift in mind for its people today, the second anniversary of independence. Since East Timor first raised its national flag in 2002, popular euphoria has been slowly but steadily seeping away. Last year the fragile economy declined.

Dili – Both East Timor and Indonesia are "on alert" for any resurgence of anti-independence militia activity following Dili's assumption of full security control from the United Nations, says East Timor's foreign minister.

Matthew Moore, Dili and Craig Skehan – Five years after more than 14,000 United Nations troops and police restored order to a devastated East Timor, and on the eve of the second anniversary of the country's independence, Dili has taken over responsibility for its defence and internal policing.

John McBeth, Dili – When the clock strikes midnight on May 19, genuine independence will remain elusive for East Timor.

A Central Sydney rally has called on the Australian Government to give East Timor its fair share of revenue from Timor Sea oil and gas reserves.

Australia and East Timor are negotiating a maritime border in the Timor Sea. An interim treaty was implemented 12 months ago until a more permanent arrangement is found.

Peter Kammerer – East Timor remains among the world's poorest and least developed nations on the second anniversary of independence, but observers are not as gloomy about its future as might be expected.

Dili – East Timor celebrated its second anniversary Thursday while its leaders called for patience in the face of a sputtering economy and a declining UN presence in Asia's poorest nation.

President Xanana Gusmao, a former freedom fighter jailed by Indonesia during its 24-year occupation, told thousands of revelers that the country's future was in their hands now.

Eleanor Hall: Today marks two years since the creation of the world's newest nation, East Timor. But it seems the euphoria that accompanied its political independence from Indonesia has given way to anxiety about its long-term future.

Eleanor Hall: The Oxfam Community Aid Abroad report into East Timor is highly critical of the Australian Government, particularly its approach to the Timor Sea oil and gas fields. And the report says it's in Australia's national interest to be more generous and to help prevent East Timor from becoming a failed state.

James Bowden, Darwin & Iggy Kim, Sydney – A public meeting of 40 people on May 6 had spirited discussion and debate on the Australian government's theft of East Timor's oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea.

Dili – Fledgling nation East Timor is making good progress in rebuilding its shattered infrastructure, cutting its budget deficit and making laws to stimulate its moribund economy, international donors said Wednesday.

However, East Timorese officials insist they need more aid to reduce poverty, establish a judiciary and provide security.

Michelle Nichols, Canberra – East Timor, the world's newest nation, is in danger of becoming a failed state because Australia is dragging its feet on maritime border talks and hindering the development of its neighbour, aid agency Oxfam said on Thursday.

Jon Lamb – Not much has been publicly revealed about the mid-April negotiations between Australia and East Timor on the maritime boundary. The ABC Four Corners on May 10, however, made it clear that the Coalition government intends to continue to refuse East Timor sovereign control over its territory in the Timor Sea.

Jakarta – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao said his government could not annul an arrest warrant for Indonesian retired General Wiranto issued by a United Nations-backed human rights tribunal based in Dili, Indonesia's news agency reported Sunday.

Dili – East Timor wants to find a solution "acceptable to all" for crimes against humanity committed in its territory in 1999 by Indonesian troops and pro-Indonesia militias, its foreign minister said Sunday.

As East Timor prepares for the second anniversary of independence next week, the country remains one of the world's poorest. For most East Timorese, education and basic health care – even access to clean water – are beyond reach. The situation has been highlighted by the death of a 12 year old girl.

Presenter/Interviewer: Marion MacGregor

United Nations – The UN Security Council voted to keep a drastically scaled back UN mission in East Timor to support the legal, law enforcement and security institutions that the government has established since independence two years ago.

The UN Security Council is set to renew the mandate of the UN Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) for a further six months, the United Nations said yesterday.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – In an extraordinary reversal, East Timor's prosecutor-general has distanced himself from an arrest warrant issued for Wiranto, former Indonesian armed forces commander and heavyweight presidential candidate in Indonesia's forthcoming election.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – East Timor's top prosecutor has said there "might be some defects" in an indictment against former and serving Indonesian officers accused of human rights abuses in a move that appears certain to sink any further attempts to prosecute them.

With a warrant out for his arrest, the general should not be a political candidate.

The presidential campaign of Indonesia's Golkar Party is off to a shaky start – in international eyes at least. A United Nations court in East Timor has issued a warrant for the arrest of the party's candidate, the former Indonesian armed forces commander, Wiranto.

Dili – East Timor's chief prosecutor has asked judges to revoke an arrest warrant for Indonesian presidential candidate Gen. Wiranto over the 1999 violence in the half-island nation, saying prosecutors needed to further review the case.

Longuinhos Monteiro described the warrant issued by the UN-backed special tribunal earlier this week as "premature."

Mark Colvin: There's more trouble tonight for the embattled Canberra defence intelligence establishment. The family of Lieutenant Colonel Merv Jenkins, Australia's top spy in Washington during the East Timor crisis, is taking the Federal Government to court.

Jakarta – Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda and several members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday shrugged off the United Nations-backed East Timorese court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto after charging him with crimes against humanity.