Dili – East Timor's attorney-general's office has granted immunity from detention to about 150 former anti- independence militias and pro-Indonesia integrationists to return home temporarily for reconciliation meetings with officials and relatives.

Kupang – About 700 members and civil servants who worked for the Indonesian Defence Forces (TNI) when East Timor was an Indoneisn province are still staying in ex-refugee camps here, a top military officer said Tuesday.

Of the number, 600 families had settled in houses the TNI had provided for military personnel, Udayana regional military chief Maj.Gen. Agus Soeyitno said.

Jeffrey Smith and David Webster – Four years ago this month, East Timor voted for independence following a quarter-century of brutal foreign occupation. Invaded and occupied by Indonesia in 1975, it finally took its place as the first independent state of the new century.

The President of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao, has held the first in a series of reconciliation talks with former militia leaders near his country's border with Indonesian West Timor.

Many ex-militia did not show, but Mr Gusmao took advantage of the border visit to convince refugees to come home.

Kupang – Indonesia and East Timor have agreed to set up nine gateways and seven markets at their border.

The markets are intended to become a center of economic activities among the people of the two neighboring countries, Supartantyo, head of the industry and trade office of Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province, said here Friday.

Joao da Silva Tavares, widely regarded as one of the most feared and hated pro-Jakarta militia leaders of East Timor, is these days enjoying retirement in Indonesia's ancient temple city of Yogyakarta.

Tavares is the former leader of Bobonaro district's notorious Halilintar militia and also served as supreme commander of the East Timorese Integration Fighters Legion (PPI).

Aboeprijadi Santoso, 'Radio Netherlands', Amsterdam – A mere three years' imprisonment was the controversial verdict for Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri for his role in the 1999 wave of terror and destruction in East Timor that killed hundreds of people and caused great suffering. Yet there is more to the violence that made him a symbol of impunity.

Dili – Civil and military officials in East Timor have recently exhumed the bodies of over 250 people who died during new nation's quarter-century independence struggle against occupying Indonesian forces.

Moch. N. Kurniawan, Jakarta – Indonesia should not be obliged to meet international standards in prosecuting the human rights abuse cases in East Timor, because the trial of perpetrators was conducted in mostly in accordance with the local law, says a government official.

William J. Furney – Spare a thought for the judges who heard cases of atrocities at Indonesia's special crimes tribunal for the former East Timor: With almost every major international human rights group slamming the trials of 18 former officials as an unabashed "whitewash", these are put-upon, mercurial justices of the law.

A court in East Timor jailed a former pro-Jakarta militiaman for eight years and eight months for crimes against humanity during the territory's bloody breakaway from Indonesia in 1999.

It was overshadowed by the Jakarta bombing. But the conviction last week of a senior Indonesian general for crimes against humanity should not be overlooked. Indonesia did all it could to avoid having its officers brought before international war crimes tribunals over their behaviour during East Timor's independence vote four years ago.

Nigel Wilson – Australia has agreed to begin talks with East Timor before the end of the year on changing the maritime boundaries between the two countries.

The Australian Army is considering further action against a SAS soldier accused of kicking a militia corpse in East Timor after the case against him collapsed in a military court.

Atambua – Former Chief of the Integration Fighters Legion (PPI) Joao da Silva Tavares has called on all East Timorese people to continue reconciliation process.

The only way to create stability in East Timor is to reconcile all East Timorese people, Tavares who is also a former chief of Bobonaro district between 1976 and 1989 told newsmen here Friday.

United Nations – A UN official said today that an international tribunal to try Indonesian soldiers accused of massacring East Timor civilians is a possibility, given the light sentences meted out so far.

"The UN has been closely monitoring the conduct of the trials that had taken place in Indonesia and the secretary general is considering its options," a UN official said.

Rowan Callick – Australia's biggest investor in East Timor is reconsidering its role after losing a bizarre court battle against its former joint-venture partner, a local businessman.

Deborah Snow – The case against a former senior SAS soldier charged with kicking a militiaman's corpse in East Timor in October 1999 is set to collapse, with crucial witnesses backing away from their original accounts.

There are renewed calls for an international tribunal to re-investigate crimes committed in East Timor against independence supporters in 1999. A Jakarta tribunal has sentenced the last of 18 defendants to appear on charges related to a wave of militia violence backed by the Indonesian military.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sonya De Masi

Dili – Australian banker Kirk McNamara has been cleared of petty theft charges. On Monday a Dili court dismissed accusations raised by the brother of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Jim Lobe, Washington – International human rights groups have denounced as inadequate the three-year prison sentence announced Tuesday in Jakarta against the most senior military officer indicted by Indonesian prosecutors for serious abuses committed against East Timorese civilians in connection with the 1999 plebiscite on independence.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Despite a prosecution request for the acquittal of Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri, the ad hoc human rights tribunal decided on Tuesday to slap a three-year jail term on the military bigwig for his involvement in the 1999 mayhem in East Timor.

The United States said it was disappointed with the work of an Indonesian tribunal into atrocities in East Timor, after it jailed a convicted general for just three years – a sentence branded by activists here as "a joke."

Jill Jolliffe and agencies, Jakarta – An army general was found guilty of crimes against humanity by an Indonesian court yesterday over bloodshed during East Timor's independence vote in 1999, ending a series of court cases that rights groups have largely branded a whitewash.

Washington – US-based East Timor activists on Tuesday branded a three-year jail term handed to an Indonesian general convicted of human rights violations as the territory struggled for independence as a "joke."

The condemnation came despite the fact that prosecutors had requested that Major General Adam Damiri be acquitted by the Jakarta human rights court.

An expert on the genocide in Cambodia has drawn parallels with Indonesia's policies in East Timor. History Professor Ben Kiernan says both Cambodia and East Timor suffered civil war – then genocidal policies from 1975 to 1980 – and ultimately intervention by the United Nations.

Transcript:

Jill Jolliffe – An Australian businessman is facing six years' imprisonment in East Timor on petty theft charges laid after a complaint by the brother of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

East Timor's most senior judge has ruled the new nation's legal system should be based on Portuguese law, not Indonesian law. The controversial statement was made during his verdict on an appeal of a Timorese militiaman convicted on involvement in murders and a massacre during the 1999 vote for independence.

Presenter/Interviewer: Anita Barraud

Dili – East Timorese police have evicted former governor Mario Carrascalao from his home of 22 years, in what he described as an act of political persecution.

Atambua – The reconciliation meeting among East Timorese on the border between Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province and East Timor continues to reach an agreement on a peaceful life.

Jill Jolliffe, Darwin – A ruling by East Timor's only Supreme Court judge that national law should be based on Portuguese, not Indonesian, law threatens to plunge the legal system into chaos.

Dili – In a case observers say could have future impact on foreign investment in East Timor, an Australian construction company launched an appeal Thursday against a judgement ordering it to pay compensation to a former Timorese business partner.

Robyn Waite, Dili – More than a year after East Timor's labour code came into effect on May 1, 2002, three of the boards required to implement it – the Minimum Wages Board, the Labour Relations Board (an arbitration body) and the National Labour Board (a policy advisory body) – have yet to be appointed.

Marwaan Macan-Markar, Bangkok – Ivete Oliveira refuses to let the past be buried, especially the past of women who were sexually abused by Indonesian soldiers during East Timor's struggle for independence.

Dili – An East Timorese court Wednesday sentenced two pro-Indonesian militia leaders to eight and 12 years in prison for murdering five independence supporters during the country's bloody break from Jakarta rule in 1999.

James Eyers – East Timor's Foreign Affairs Minister, Jose Ramos-Horta, has reassured investors that Timor is happy with the treaty on sharing the Timor Sea's oil wealth with Australia, despite claims by a cabinet colleague last month that it was unfair.

Liz Minchin – Australia and the United States should stop warning travellers that East Timor is a possible terrorist target because they are harming the country's fledgling economy, East Timorese Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said yesterday.

Brad Collis – When Sipriano Martins was in high school he had a code name to hide his identity. It was Saruntu, which means "fight like a crazy man". That was back in the mid-1990s when Sipriano was risking his life as a courier for East Timor's Falintil guerillas fighting to free the country from Indonesian occupation.

Jill Jolliffe, Fatumaca – On a sentimental journey to an unusual former guerilla support base, East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao has paid homage to two priests who dedicated their lives to his country's freedom.

Dili – Prosecutors in East Timor Thursday indicted 57 people, including 17 Indonesian military officers and four former pro-Jakarta militia leaders, for their part in deadly violence during the country's 1999 independence bid.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A new tactic by East Timorese prosecutors to bring war crimes suspects to trial has resulted in nine Interpol arrest warrants being issued.

The new UN police chief in East Timor says one of her top priorities is to provide training to the local police force to take over policing of the young nation. UNPOL Commissioner Sandra Peisley is an Australian, who formerly served with the Australian Federal Police.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

Makassar – Hundreds of East Timorese, currently under the care of the Al Anshar Foundation here, and other refugees and students have refused to go back to East Timor.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A United Nations official has confirmed that an investigation is under way in East Timor into prostitution and allegations of human trafficking. The probe follows claims by the Portuguese newspaper Expresso of a growing problem involving UN staff.

An international rights group criticised East Timor's new police force for arbitrary detentions, beating some detainees and a trigger-happy response to last December's riots in which three people died.

Dili – East Timor's prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, criticized Tuesday the earlier pronouncement by Dili's Court of Appeal that a draft immigration and asylum bill is unconstitutional. The Appeal Court ruled Monday that parts of the draft bill which limit political rights for foreign citizens in Timor are "unconstitutional".

Jakarta – A general on trial before a human rights court on Tuesday rejected allegations that troops fuelled the 1999 atrocities in East Timor as "fantasy."

Major-General Adam Damiri is the last and highest-ranking official to appear before the court, accused of crimes against humanity during East Timor's bloody breakaway from Jakarta's rule.

Nothing fades as fast as an international crisis that seems to be settled, as proved by the almost complete disappearance of East Timor from Australian newspapers and television screens. James Dunn's updating of his history to cover its foundation as an independent nation reminds us of its continuing importance to international politics.

Marianne Kearney – One year after formal independence and almost four years after East Timorese voted in a United Nations-backed referendum to split from its former occupier Indonesia, the world's newest nation is still dirt poor.

Vannessa Hearman – On the eve of an official visit to Jakarta, Timorese PM Mari Alkatiri on May 30 called for an international tribunal in a "neutral country" to try those responsible for serious crimes in his country in 1999. He likened the current Indonesian trials to "a piece of theatre".