Jill Jolliffe, Gugleur – Gugleur has little to recommend it. Its people are subsistence farmers and the maize crop has failed this year. The dust whips around the cluster of forlorn thatched huts that provide the bare necessity of shelter, no trimmings.

Dili – East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao on Friday asked his critics for more time to solve the vast problems facing the newly independent nation.

Jakarta – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao urged his people on Friday to focus on the task of nation-building as the territory marked its first 100 days of independence.

The former guerrilla leader said in an address to the nation the tiny country was suffering growing pains and warned against the threat of corruption.

East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao took stock of his new nation on Friday in a speech marking 100 days of independence, calling for greater grassroots democracy to check potential abuse of power.

Peter Symonds – The outcome of the first trials by an Indonesian court over the massacres in East Timor in 1999, prior to and following the UN-sponsored vote on independence, has proved to be a farce.

Stewart Taggart in Dili and Lor – Times have changed for Commandante Elias Falour. Once he was a leader in the East Timorese guerrilla resistance. Today he has an official job, district commander of East Timor's national defence force in the town of Los Palos – and a lot less to do. With the Indonesians gone, there isn't much to defend against.

Jill Joliffe, Dili – East Timor's Government is likely to ask the United Nations to set up an international tribunal to hear war crimes cases after key suspects were acquitted by a Jakarta court.

John Aglionby – For anyone who is not in Indonesia's military it must be hard to understand why Colonel Herman Sedyono is not in jail.

East Timor Action Network/US (ETAN) said today that it was "deeply disturbed" by East Timor's decision to give US troops in the new nation immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said Tuesday that East Timor's judges and court officials are to be trained in Portuguese and rejected a reported preference by the UN for the use of Indonesian by the judiciary.

Alexandre Assis, Dili – East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao was very angry when he heard the verdict of the Central Jakarta Ad Hoc Human Rights Court that set free the main suspects – Brig. Gen. Timbul Silaen and other middle-rank Indonesian Military (TNI) and police officers – in the East Timor human rights violation following the 1999 referendum.

Ian Martin – The trials before an ad hoc human rights tribunal in Jakarta of officials implicated in the 1999 crimes in East Timor are not only failing to do justice: They have turned truth on its head and added insult to injury.

Andrew Perrin – The former custodians of the Hotel Flamboyan in Baucau, the picturesque seaside town on East Timor's northeast coast, had a lot to learn about hotel management.

Washington – The newly independent state of East Timor has signed an agreement exempting US military personnel from prosecution in the International Criminal Court, the US State Department said on Monday.

A document drawn up by the United Nations Mission in East Timor says that the training of judges and support to courts and Timorese jurists should be undertaken in Indonesian, a policy that the UN mission denied last week.

The paper, "A Strategic Action Plan for the East Timor Judicial System", was written by the No. 2. administrator of UNMISET.

Jill Jolliffe, Suai – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson rode into the eye of East Timor's human rights storm at the weekend when she visited the scene of the September, 1999, Suai church massacre.

In East Timor, the Bishop of Dili has called for the creation of an international tribunal to try crimes committed during the independence vote three years ago.

The call by Bishop Carlos Belo comes after an Indonesian court acquitted six military and police officers of gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.

Gde Anugrah Arka, Jakarta – The UN's human rights chief visited an East Timor massacre site on Saturday and was told by victims' families an international tribunal was needed to examine human rights violations in the former Indonesia province.

Dili – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao on Friday said the government may consider pushing the United Nations to convene a special war crimes tribunal to try Indonesian officers allegedly responsible for the destruction of the territory in 1999.

Dili – UN human rights chief Mary Robinson arrived in East Timor on Friday condemning Indonesia's trials over atrocities in the territory in 1999 and said she would take her concerns to the UN Security Council.

Tom Wright, Dili – Try to find coffee from East Timor, barely three months old as a nation, and you'll probably come up empty-handed.

While coffee from neighboring Indonesia is gaining international recognition alongside time-tested Colombian and Kenyan beans, East Timor isn't a name which would register with most coffee lovers.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's new government faced a second day of protests yesterday, when a dissident political party demonstrated outside government offices.

Among the crowd were remnants of a group of 2000 former independence fighters who held an unauthorised military parade in Dili on Tuesday.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The United States has criticised Indonesia's acquittal of six out of seven people accused of war crimes in East Timor, highlighting the prosecution's failure to build a case good enough to get convictions.

James Dunn – At last Indonesia's human rights tribunal has begun passing verdicts on the 18 accused who have appeared before it.

The first to be sentenced was Abilio Soares, the last Governor of East Timor under Indonesian rule. Six other officers, including the Polri Chief, Brigadier General Timbul Silaen and Colonel Sediono have been acquitted.

Jill Jolliffe – Most of Dili's shops were closed and shuttered yesterday as about 2000 former guerrilla fighters put on a show of force against the Fretilin government of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Jakarta – Human rights activists pledged on Monday to step up a global campaign for the establishment of an international tribunal for those involved in the mayhem in East Timor in 1999, saying Indonesia's human rights court was inconsistent and not independent.

Jerry Norton, Jakarta – US criticism of Indonesian prosecutors over verdicts in East Timor human rights cases was out of line and would be better directed at judges in the case, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said on Tuesday.

[Australia is to talk to East Timor about Indonesia's acquittal of army officers accused of human rights crimes in East Timor. Australia's Foreign Minister says Canberra is concerned about the decision by Indonesia's Human Rights Court to clear six officers over their role in the 1999 violence.

The commander of the East Timor Defense Force (ETDF) said Tuesday that the Dili government should build a monument to honor resistance fighters killed in the independence struggle against Indonesia and also clarify who fought as FALINTIL guerillas.

The acquittal of six members of Indonesia's security forces on charges arising from the horrific massacre of three East Timorese priests and the scores of civilians they were sheltering implies, incorrectly, a credible defence.

Washington – The United States on Monday criticized the Indonesian prosecutors who failed to secure convictions for six out of seven security officials charged with crimes against humanity in East Timor.

Jakarta – Relations with the US will not be affected by the acquittal of six defendants allegedly involved in the violence that engulfed East Timor in 1999, Indonesia's foreign minister said Monday.

More than 50 prisoners who escaped from Dili's main prison Friday, after a riot apparently provoked by anger at hold-ups in the processing of inmates' cases, remained on the run Monday.

The Australian Government has been told it has an obligation to support the establishment of an international tribunal to prosecute those Indonesians involved in the 1999 bloodshed in East Timor.

[As the fledgling nation of East Timor finds its feet, Maree Curtis talks to Kirsty Sword, the Australian-born former spy playing first lady to a legend. And photographer Nicole Cleary takes her camera on a road trip through the aftermath of independence.]

[Bitter Dawn: East Timor, A People's Story; by Irena Cristalis; ZED Books, London, 2002; 286 pages. Reviewed by Carmel Budiardjo, Contributor, London.]

We are in the back of an old Toyota Ute, heading for the hillside village of Ermera. It is only about 100km from the East Timorese capital, Dili, but the road is rough and winding. Wild dogs sleep by the warm road or run out in front of us as we dodge enormous potholes.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Almost the entire population of East Timor's main jail broke out yesterday in protest against the long delays in processing their cases.

One prisoner was shot in the shoulder and two guards were injured when about 300 prisoners escaped during visiting hours at Becora prison on the outskirts of Dili. By last night, about 200 had been recaptured.

About 60 human rights activists have demonstrated in the East Timorese capital Dili demanding an international tribunal into the 1999 violence that devastated the former Indonesian province.

Matthew Moore – The man who ran the United Nations mission that oversaw East Timor's referendum has branded the trials of alleged Indonesian war criminals a complete failure and said it was time for the UN to set up its own tribunal to investigate atrocities before and after the 1999 vote.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – As he stood in the courtroom and hugged his wife on hearing his not guilty verdict, a hand reached out to Brigadier General Timbul Silaen.

The United States has called on the Indonesian government to redouble efforts to prosecute human rights abuses by its security forces in East Timor.

The call follows the acquittal of a police chief and five others on such charges.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Indonesia's human rights court yesterday acquitted four mid-ranking soldiers and two policemen, including the former East Timor police chief, of charges they were involved in war crimes that resulted in about 1000 East Timorese being massacred before and after the vote on independence three years ago.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The sentencing of their former governor, Abilio Soares, to three years in prison for failing to stop the 1999 violence drew a mixed response from the people of East Timor yesterday.

East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta expressed fears that only East Timorese, such as Soares, would be punished for the violence.

Dennis Schulz and Fernando de Freitas report – Opposite the clerk in the Government's Office of Foreign Affairs, Maria Gutierrez stares blankly at the official application, mouth agape. It is written in Portuguese. Like most young East Timorese, she is a speaker of Bahasa Indonesia. "What is this?" she asks in her native tongue.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – East Timor's president, who has asked Indonesia's human rights court not to single out scapegoats for killings during the territory's 1999 independence vote, is neither upset nor angry with the court verdicts so far.

Victor Tjahjadi, Jakarta – A conspiracy between the military and the Indonesian government was likely behind the acquittal of six military and police officers for gross human rights violations in East Timor, analysts said Friday.

East Timor is preparing a "joint position" on the verdicts of the Jakarta court, currently trying those deemed responsible for the violence in Timor in 1999, and Dili will examine all options to rectify shortcomings in Indonesia's judicial system, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta said Friday.

Joaquim Fonseca's anger is clear as he recalls the massacre at a police station in the East Timor town of Maliana and the cold-blooded shooting of a young man by police in the capital, Dili.

Chris McCall – Abilio Soares' light sentence finally proves that Indonesia's human rights trials related to East Timor are just a ploy to satisfy the international community, a top Indonesian rights activist said yesterday.