Chantal Rumble – As East Timor celebrates its first year of independence, Batemans Bay human rights campaigner James Dunn has launched a book about the country's extraordinary road to freedom.
East Timor: A Rough Passage to Independence, was launched by NSW Premier Bob Carr in NSW Parliament House last night.
A state-appointed human rights court acquitted the former commander of Indonesian troops in East Timor of crimes against humanity in the territory in 1999, prompting protests by rights groups.
The "dignity and position of Brigadier General Tono Suratman should be restored to him" following the verdict, said Chief Judge Andi Samsan Nganro.
Quinton Temby, Perth – At an international conference on regional security held in East Timor last year, the frustration of many Timorese officials was obvious. It was just over two years since East Timor had voted for independence from Indonesia and been ravaged by its scorched earth retribution. But the frustration wasn't directed at Indonesia.
Jill Jolliffe, Dili – On May 20 last year the Democratic Republic of East Timor became the first new nation of the second millennium.
East Timor, the world's newest nation, marked its first birthday but President Xanana Gusmao found little to celebrate.
East Timor was Asia's poorest country when it declared independence one year ago, after 31 months of United Nations stewardship and 24 years of often brutal Indonesian rule. Gusmao, in a national address Tuesday, summed up the problems bluntly.
Twelve months ago there was great fanfare when East Timor was declared the world's newest nation. But today the celebrations were muted as President Xanana Gusamo lamented the nation's problems in his address to the East Timorese people.
Maumeta – Cancio dos Santos readily admits he joined pro-Jakarta militias and torched three homes in East Timor when it voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999.
Michael Casey, Dili – A year after independence, dozens of burned-out buildings dot East Timor's capital – haunting reminders of the country's bloody history.
Unemployed men hang out on Dili street corners hawking phone cards, oranges and cigarettes. In the countryside, residents live on as little as 55 cents a day. Clean water and electricity are luxuries most do without.
As popular discontent continues to fester over unmet economic expectations in East Timor, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has rejected criticism that his Fretilin government is too centralised and intolerant of opposing views. At the same time, he's also taken a swipe at Canberra, accusing some of wanting to make the world's newest nation a mere extension of Australia.
Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The prime minister of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, which celebrates one year of independence next Tuesday, has said he is determined to bring to justice Indonesian officers who committed war crimes in the territory.
John Martinkus – General Taur Matan Ruak, the former guerilla leader who now heads East Timor's defence forces, has called on residents of the world's newest nation to ignore rumours that the first anniversary of independence on May 20 would be marked by militia attacks.
Dili – As Indonesia marks five years as a democracy, its former territory of East Timor is celebrating its own landmark: one year as an independent nation.
But persistent poverty, anger at the slow pace of nation building and the struggle to come to terms with a brutal past are likely to overshadow any celebration next Tuesday.
Canberra – Aid funding will increase but assistance for East Timor will be slashed under the Budget released tonight. In a sign of the government's continuing use of aid to help fight terrorism, much of the increase has been tied to the efforts of neighbouring countries to improve their governance and policing systems.
Joe Cochrane – When Indonesia and Australia agreed in 1989 to jointly exploit East Timor's offshore oil and gas fields, the countries' foreign ministers sealed the pact by sipping champagne in a private jet high above the Timor Sea.
Oscar Jukes, Darwin – East Timor's parliament is discussing a new law that would allow the interior ministry to deport any foreigner who engages in political activity or even attends a political meeting or demonstration.
Tony Stephens – Teresinha Maia's grandfather, Loloulo, helped Australian commandos fight the Japanese in Timor during World War II. Believing he had saved their lives, the Australians gave him a slouch hat. Loloulo wore it for years. It rests now in what Mrs Maia calls a holy place in East Timor.
Jill Jolliffe, Dili – An Indonesian official has described the former East Timor governor Mario Carrascalao as unstable, following his allegations that the Indonesian Army systematically forced Timorese women to be sex slaves for officers and then killed their husbands.
East Timor's Serious Crimes Unit is losing its high profile chief – Siri Frigaard. She completes her mission this week, raising concerns about the unit's long term future. The United Nations is already cutting the number of international prosecutors from 13 to nine and says it can't guarantee any support for the project beyond June 2004.
New York – The United Nations Security Council has approved a one-year extension of the UN mission in East Timor, while diplomatic sources caution that the new nation could experience massive difficulties after the world body pulls out next year.
Guido Guilart, Dili – The Indonesian military systematically forced dozens of East Timorese women to become sex slaves for officers during its 24-year occupation of the half-island, a former governor said Tuesday.
Nigel Wilson – Negotiations are going ahead on the terms that will secure long-term gas supplies for Bayu Undan's $1.8 billion liquefied natural gas plant planned for Darwin.
Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – More than 500 East Timorese people still taking refuge in West Timor held a protest recently in front of the East Nusa Tenggara provincial legislative council, demanding the Indonesian government compensate them for the assets they left behind in East Timor.
For the first time, the East Timorese Government has begun taking control from the United Nations over its border with Indonesia.
East Timorese and UN authorities have today opened a new facility at Batugade to streamline immigration, police and border patrol operations along the border with West Timor.
New York – The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet Monday to discuss a one-year extension of the UN mission in East Timor, a recommendation by Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Jakarta – Two international human rights groups have strongly criticised a United Nations commission, saying it failed to demand justice for victims of atrocities in East Timor.
Amnesty International and the East Timor Action Network took issue with a recent statement from the UN Commission on Human Rights about Indonesia's trials of suspects in the 1999 bloodshed.
Dili – A moral and spiritual "darkness" still haunts East Timor's Catholics, the bishop of Dili said at the Easter Vigil service.
The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) strongly criticized the UN Commission on Human Rights for turning its back on the East Timorese people and jeopardizing current and future UN missions.
The Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) and TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, have condemned the UN Commission on Human Rights for failing to ensure that the perpetrators of gross violations of human rights in East Timor are brought to justice and for agreeing to drop the issue from its agenda next year.
Dili – The head of the United Nations' civil police department urged East Timor Thursday to rapidly draft and approve legislation for its police forces. Calling on Dili for action "as quickly as possible", Kiran Debi challenged a seminar in the East Timorese capital "not to waste this opportunity" because "you are losing time and put the future at risk".
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Activists have urged the international community to ensure that justice is served against all perpetrators of the gross human rights violations in East Timor, now that hopes for a fair trial have evaporated.
In East Timor, continuing militia infilitration has put a spotlight on the United Nations failure to properly secure the border. Local police say militia groups have returned to East Timor, through numerous tracks along the West Timor border. The warning comes as the UN forces prepare to withdraw, leaving border security to the local police.
Jakarta – People in the East Timor regency of Belu expressed disappointment over the country's recent ruling to impose a US$25 visa on visitors from Indonesia, which it borders.
A number of local figures warned on Tuesday that the visa ruling, which took effect on April 19, would burden East Timor more than it would Indonesia.
Next month – our northern neighbour is celebrating it's first birthday as a free country. But while there's much to celebrate – the country's justice system is struggling. Critics say the government isn't doing enough – to bring those responsible for past violence – before a court of law.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Despite the decision of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) to drop from its agenda human rights abuses in East Timor, the opportunity to reopen the rights cases, which have implicated a number of Indonesian Army generals, is still available, a noted lawyer has said.
Megan Saunders – Ami is only six, but she knows her family is at crisis point. "What have we done wrong?" the youngest of five children asked her mother as the family fought to remain in Australia. "I said to her: 'I don't know, darling' and she starts crying," says her mother, Teresinha Maia.
Dili – The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR) has already heard over 2,000 statements on human rights violations committed during the 25-year independence struggle against Indonesia, but needs an extension of its mandate, the independent body announced Monday.
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The chance to bring justice to the victims of the 1999 human rights violations in East Timor has vanished, after the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) agreed over the weekend to drop the agenda from its future meetings.
The head of Indonesia's Supreme Court has hit out at Amnesty International for describing trials of suspects in the 1999 East Timor violence as "not honest, truthful or fair." "That group has never been satisfied with other people's work," Bagir Manan was quoted by the Koran Tempo daily as saying.
Mari Alkatiri – As the world watched events unfold in the Middle East, we heard talk of the territorial integrity of the nation of Iraq.
Elcid Li, Kupang – The reunion took place in no-man's-land. Also called the tactical coordination line, a 300-meter-long strip of beach just outside of Belu regency between East Timor and Indonesia, where neither country's laws apply.
Three and half years after East Timor voted for independence, 1500 East Timorese asylum seekers are still in Australia. For many it is more than a decade since they escaped the former Portuguese colony's murderous Indonesian regime. Some had fled the 1991 massacre of about 200 East Timorese in Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery.
An investigation into allegations of unlawful killing and brutality by Australian special forces in East Timor led to a soldier being charged with kicking a militiaman's corpse after an ambush, Army chief General Peter Leahy said.
Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors yesterday demanded that a former military chief in East Timor be jailed for 10 years for failing to stop violence leading up to the territory's vote to split from Jakarta's rule in 1999.
Brig-Gen Tono Suratman controlled Indonesian troops in East Timor, now known as Timor Leste, until two weeks before the August 30, 1999, independence vote.
Amnesty International slammed Indonesia's trials of suspects in the 1999 East Timor violence as "not honest, truthful or fair" and urged the United Nations to consider setting up a tribunal.
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – A human rights activist has expressed doubts that Indonesia and East Timor are serious about resolving the question of human rights abuses in the former Indonesian province as both are still lack the necessary legal instruments to deal with the cases.
Megan Saunders – Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock has rejected a plea by the East Timor President, Xanana Gusmao, to allow up to 1600 temporary visa holders to remain in Australia because his country is too poor to take them back.
Dili – Police in East Timor have launched a crackdown on prostitution, raiding two massage parlors in the past month and arresting four people, an officer said Friday.
Prostitution has become an increasing problem in this predominantly Catholic country, while the foreign population rises and an undermanned police force struggles with rising crime.
The Federal Government has been accused of leaving East Timorese asylum seekers to starve by cutting off their welfare payments while they wait to hear if they are allowed to stay in Australia.
Dili (Agencies) – Prosecutors in East Timor said on Wednesday they have indicted 16 people including eight Indonesian army officers for crimes against humanity before and after the territory's bloody breakaway from Jakarta in 1999.
William Birnbauer – A benign attitude to his country's tormentors is not widely understood, but East Timor's "Mandela" wants to move on. William Birnbauer reports.