Human rights activists and legal experts in East Timor have condemned proposed moves to limit the freedom of foreigners. Under its controversial immigration and asylum law, the goverment aims to curtail the activities of foreigners, effectively giving it the green light to deport anyone involved in activities of a "political nature".
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As East Timor prepares to mark its first anniversary of independence, the nation's opposition parties have united to present a strong alternative to the government. The newly-formed platform of national unity is an attempt to combat what the opposition says is an undemocratic and corrupt government. It's a testing time for the players in the world's newest democracy.
Cynthia Banham – Refugee groups are claiming the Federal Government is close to making a decision on the fate of East Timorese asylum seekers that would prolong their limbo status for three to five years.
Dili – Most of East Timor's opposition parties signed a so-called "national unity platform" Monday, bitterly criticizing Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's cabinet and demanding the formation of a broad coalition government.
President Xanana Gusmao concedes security will be a concern when United Nations peacekeepers pull out of East Timor.
The troops are due to leave next June, almost five years after the nation gained independence from Indonesia.
Ellen Nakashima, Jakarta – On a recent day in a weathered courthouse in Jakarta sat defendant Tono Suratman, an army brigadier general accused of failing to prevent two massacres in East Timor during its bloody breakaway from Indonesia in 1999.
Beside him were eight defense attorneys. Opposite them was the prosecution: two lawyers called out of retirement.
Jakarta – United Nations peacekeepers have arrested two former East Timorese militiamen for alleged involvement in crimes against humanity during East Timor's bloody breakaway from Jakarta in 1999.
Reuters in Melbourne – Corruption poses the biggest risk to the future of East Timor, says its president, Xanana Gusmao.
The world's newest country, which will celebrate its first anniversary next month, was struggling to make democracy work beyond just holding elections every five years, he said.
Dili – An East Timorese court on Saturday sentenced a senior militia leader to 12 years in prison for crimes against humanity committed during the country's bloody break from Indonesia in 1999.
Jose Cardosa Fereira was found guilty of murder, rape and torture against East Timorese civilians who supported the territory's independence from Indonesia .
David Rood – East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao said yesterday he opposed Australia's involvement in the US-led war on Iraq.
Mr Gusmao's views appear to conflict with those of his Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, who has previously endorsed the use of force in Iraq.
Dili – An East Timor-Australia treaty that serves as the basis for the development of the major oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea between the two countries came into force Wednesday.
Kalinga Seneviratne, Sydney – Australia's international profile, already hurt by criticism against its role in the US-led invasion of Iraq, is under fire for is its desire to boot out East Timorese asylum seekers who fled the former Indonesian territory more than a decade ago.
Paul Kelly – Iraq is not the only humanitarian issue facing the Howard Government today. East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao made an urgent and desperate appeal to Australia last week and failed to raise a flicker of media interest.
East Timor became a fully independent republic on May 20, following approximately 2½ years under the authority of the U.N. Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). The country has a parliamentary form of government with its first parliament formed from the 88-member Constituent Assembly chosen in free and fair, U.N-supervised elections in August 2001.
Jakarta – East Timor has formed a new border patrol unit to replace international peacekeepers, the UN said Friday – a sign that the military is assuming greater responsibility for security in the world's newest nation.
East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao has urged Canberra to allow 1,600 of his compatriots who fled to Australia about a decade ago, in the bloody years before independence, to stay.
The asylum seekers would not impose any hardship on the Australian economy whereas destitute East Timor would struggle to provide for them, Gusmao told a conference here about nation building.
Nigel Wilson – The Timor Sea Treaty will formally come into effect next Tuesday with an exchange of notes between Australia and East Timor in Dili.
The exchange will be the final step in the process of replacing Indonesia as the country that Australia partners in developing Timor Sea oil and gas reserves.
East Timor's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation has been up and running for over three months now and has accepted over 100 minor political criminals back into their villages.
Lisa Clausen – The young boy returned to the mountain village of Letefoho in fear and disgrace. He was a child in 1999 when, swept up in the militia violence that followed East Timor's vote for independence, he burnt down his aunt's house and fled. When he finally came home this year, the teenager had no idea of what he would face.
Jakarta – Ex-president B.J. Habibie told a human rights court Thursday that the bloodshed which swept across East Timor after its independence referendum in 1999 was the work of criminals, not the result of any order from his administration.
Dili – East Timorese leaders expressed their "extreme preoccupation" and "shock" Thursday over the launching of war by Washington and London against Iraq.
President Xanana Gusmco appealed to the international community "not to spare efforts to minimize the social, psychological and economic impact of war on the Iraqi people brought by military intervention".
Geneva – The minister of the Foreign Affairs of Timor said Wednesday that a "better solution" for the problem of Iraq "would be that the United States gave longer to the inspectors from the UN".
Rob Wesley-Smith – Much joy from NT government and business has accompanied the rushing of the Timor Sea Treaty (TST) through both houses of the Australian Parliament 2 weeks ago. But is it a good deal for both sides?
Jakarta (Agencies) – Military authorities in West Timor have arrested six pro-Jakarta militiamen for their alleged involvement in last month's ambush of a passenger bus in East Timor and other acts of violence, agencies reported.
Jakarta – Prosecutors plan to soon appeal a string of verdicts acquitting Indonesian police and military officers accused over the violence that swept East Timor during its break from Indonesia in 1999, a court spokesman said Monday.
A military commander overseeing Indonesian West Timor has ordered his men to shoot on sight any armed militiamen found trying to cross the border with independent East Timor.
The order came from Major General Agus Suyitno, the state Antara news agency reported late Sunday.
An Australian Army inquiry, yet to be released, has cleared members of the elite SAS of torture claims in East Timor. But it's believed the inquiry currently has an open finding on the central allegation, that 11 Timorese were held handcuffed and blindfolded for two days without food and water.
Chris McCall – In the mist of East Timor's central mountains, Florindo Soares explains why he helped kill his neighbour's brother 25 years ago. Outside the schoolhouse, a bird of prey circles majestically over a lake backed by lush rainforest, like an omen.
Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's human rights tribunal yesterday convicted Brigadier-General Noer Muis, a former military chief in then-East Timor, of crimes against humanity committed just before its independence referendum in 1999.
Chris McCall – Small boys play on a rusting warship off Dili harbour, the detritus of war that has become their home. On the beach, men scavenge for rubbish they can use or sell.
Chris McCall – It is only a rough map, but the message is clear. East Timor is shown surrounded by Falintil freedom fighters, with a huge cross close to Dili. In the new, independent East Timor, the strange quasi-Catholicism of Sagrada Familia can finally be expressed openly, even if it is not exactly an orthodox brand of Christianity.
Andrew Burrell, Jakarta – A senior Indonesian military officer convicted yesterday over the bloodshed in East Timor in 1999 will remain free, despite being sentenced to five years jail for failing to prevent attacks against civilians in the former Indonesian province.
Rick Kelly – The long standing plan of the Australian government to maintain control of East Timor's oil and gas reserves reached its dinouement late last week, as the East Timorese approved the International Unitisation Agreement (IUA) after a systematic campaign of threats and intimidation from Australia.
Australia promised East Timor millions of dollars in a secret aid deal that convinced the world's newest nation to give up claims to a huge undersea gas field, a newspaper reported.
Larissa Dubecki – The State Government will give financial aid to about 1600 East Timorese refugees in Australia fighting to gain permanent residency status.
A $50,000 grant, announced yesterday, will help pay for their legal costs.
Alan Boyd, Sydney – East Timor is preparing for next year's withdrawal of United Nations peacekeeping troops with a diplomatic offensive aimed at confronting worsening security and social tensions.
Tim Colebatch – They fooled me. Perhaps they fooled you, too. These days the spin doctors are everywhere, and they know how to pull the wool over our eyes.
Aboeprijadi Santoso – Instead of expressing regret over Dili's indictment of Indonesian generals (as East Timor President Xanana Gusmao did) or flatly rejecting it (as Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda and President Megawati Soekarnoputri hastily did), Jakarta and Dili would do well to review their policies and consider the long-term implications of the issue.
Dili – The East Timorese government defended today the imposition of restraints on the activities of foreigners in Timor-Leste and rejected suggestions of that the proposed law about immigration and asylum presented to the National Parliament violates international rights.
Kalinga Seneviratne, Sydney – The Australian government is denying claims that it bullied the world's newest country, and one of its poorest – East Timor – to grab a large slice of a US$48 billion gas and oil deal signed between the two countries on Thursday.
Richard Woolcott – John Howard may regard intervention in East Timor as Australia's "most positive and noble act" in 20 years, but our most senior former diplomat sees only needless damage to relations with Indonesia and unnecessary suffering for the East Timorese.
Steve Lewis and Nigel Wilson – Relations between Australia and East Timor have deteriorated even as they signed a breakthrough agreement yesterday paving the way for billions of dollars in shared revenue.
Prime Minister John Howard denied yesterday bullying East Timor over a lucrative gas project as Parliament passed the crucial Timor Sea Treaty.
The laws, rushed through on the last sitting day before a March 11 deadline to ratify the treaty, underpinned the $3 billion Bayu-Undan gas development in the seabed shared between Australia and the fledgling nation.
Mark Phillips – Australian troops in East Timor have broken up an organised crime gang after a gun battle that left a gangster dead and another fighting for his life.
It was the first live fire incident involving Australian troops in East Timor for almost two years.
Cynthia Banham – The Howard Government is facing dissent from its backbenches over a decision to deport more than 1000 East Timorese refugees.
Mark Baker – East Timor has bowed to intense political pressure from Australia and will today rush through the signing of an agreement to clear the way for joint development of the vast oil and gas reserves of the Timor Sea.
Mark Baker, Singapore and Mark Riley, Canberra – East Timor has bowed to intense political pressure from Australia and will today rush through the signing of an agreement to clear the way for joint development of the vast oil and gas reserves of the Timor Sea.
The formal indictment of Indonesia's former armed forces chief, retired General Wiranto, and seven of his senior military officers for war crimes in East Timor is no watershed in the quest for justice in the former Indonesian-controlled territory.
Jakarta – A top Indonesian Cabinet minister warned East Timor not to press ahead with the prosecutions of several Indonesian generals for alleged crimes committed during the former province's independence drive in 1999.
Kurniawan Hari and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The recent indictment of several Indonesian military officers in East Timor shows that the international community has no trust in either the ongoing human rights trial or the country's judiciary, a noted rights activist says.