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.

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.

[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.]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jane Perlez, Jakarta – An Indonesian human rights court today acquitted six military and police officials of crimes against humanity in East Timor after a pro-independence vote three years ago, a verdict that did not please the Bush administration as it seeks to rebuild military ties here.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – The Dutch Government has promised to continue pressing Jakarta to prosecute the alleged killer of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes, despite Indonesian authorities saying there is insufficient evidence.

The suffering East Timorese endured under Indonesian rule will define relations between the two countries for generations. Apologies and half-hearted trials of alleged perpetrators will not erase the 24 years of massacres, rapes and destruction of property.

In a joint statement issued today, Amnesty International and the Judicial System Monitoring Programme (JSMP) expressed their grave disappointment in the trials of the first East Timor cases in Indonesia.

Peter Kammerer – Reconciliation between East Timor and Indonesia has become a tussle of diplomacy versus justice – and it seems clear the latter will lose.

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.

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.

[The former governor of East Timor, Abilio Soares, has become the first Indonesian official to be sentenced to jail for gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999. A special human rights court presided by Judge Emi Marni Mustafa sentenced Soares to three years' in jail, well short of the 10-and-a-half years sought by prosecutors.

Steven Gutkin, Jakarta – In the first verdict in a series of trials of former Indonesian officials charged with crimes against humanity, the ex-governor of East Timor was convicted Wednesday of allowing massacres and sentenced to three years in prison.

East Timorese demands for justice will not be satisfied by the conviction of former East Timor governor Abilio Soares for crimes against humanity committed in East Timor in 1999 say CAFOD, CIIR and TAPOL.

An American NGO campaigning for human rights in East Timor called Wednesday for the setting up of an international tribunal to punish crimes against humanity committed throughout the 24-year Indonesian occupation of the territory, as opposed to the two months currently being focused on by an Indonesian court.

William M. Reilly, United Nations – The United Nations expressed dismay over the Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunal in Indonesia following the verdict Wednesday against former East Timor Governor Abilio Soares with both Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Human Rights High Commissioner Mary Robinson questioning the tribunal's practices.

East Timor government officials attending meetings at this week's Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji say they are not supporting the campaign by Papuan separatists.

Abel Guterres from East Timor's ministry of foreign affairs says while he understands Papua's attempts to gain the support of forum countries, East Timor will not join their campaign.

Kupang – East Timorese refugees sheltering in a number of camps in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province will celebrate in a modest way Indonesia's 57th independence day on August 17.

Jakarta – East Timorese refugees are to vacate camps across East Nusa Tenggara by August 31, the deadline set for them to leave the shelter and receive government assistance to return to East Timor or resettle in the province, the provincial administration said on Monday.

United Nations – Nearly three months after East Timor's independence, the UN mission in the fledgling southeast Asian nation is on course to finish its work and shut down in two years, a top UN official said on Tuesday.

Dili – East Timor President Xanana Gusmao said Tuesday any trial for the murder of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes should be held in his country.

Kuala Lumpur – East Timor took control of its legal system from United Nations administrators too soon and weakness of the judiciary is hurting investor confidence, Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Tuesday.

Joanne Collins, Jakarta – Indonesia is due to deliver on Wednesday its first verdict in landmark trials over violence linked to East Timor's bloody independence vote in 1999, but many who have followed the process doubt justice will be served.

Dmli – The National Parliament of Timor approved and ratified today to adhesion from Timor to the International Criminal Court (TPI), with 70 votes to favor and barely an abstention, of the representative Leandro Isaac.

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia offered East Timor Monday assistance ranging from education to military training during a visit by the fledgling nation's Prime Minister, Mari Bim Amude Alkatiri, an official said.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The threat of violence is imminent in East Nusa Tenggara province as residents in North Central Timor Regency have objected to the presence of more East Timorese Indonesian refugees in their area as part of the government's sponsored resettlement program.

Jakarta – Civilians slaughtered as they hid in churches. Independence leaders assassinated in their homes. Entire villages burned to the ground.

Camillo Fracassini – The suspected killers of a Scottish journalist murdered in East Timor 27 years ago have escaped a war crimes trial in the UK, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

Paul Toohey – East Timor's 40-odd lawyers are on strike. The judges and registry staff have all gone home. In the words of one Australian lawyer working in Dili, the courthouse is abandoned "but for two sleepy policemen".

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A pro-Jakarta East Timorese leader told the Rights Tribunal on Thursday that the Indonesian Military (TNI) did nothing to stop armed militias from attacking the residence of proindependence leader Manuel Viegas Carrascalao on April 17, 1999.

East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, seeking political detente, held a first meeting Friday to discuss "sensitive" policy issues before government action.

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors lacked evidence to lay charges against powerful former armed forces commander General Wiranto over the violence in East Timor, the country's former attorney general said.

President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri urged East Timor's students Thursday to aid the new nation's reconstruction and development through "mature" and "constructive" debate and political participation.

Jakarta – A former militia boss accused of inciting a massacre in East Timor in 1999 on Thursday denied allegations by a compatriot that he had ordered his men to attack pro-independence supporters.

Atambua – The Belu district military command on Thursday succeeded in foiling an attempt to smuggle around 1.8 tons of kerosene to East Timor.

The smugglers were to take the kerosene across the border at Silawan, East Tasifeto sub-district, Belu district, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

Jakarta – A leading former East Timorese independence supporter wept Wednesday as he recalled the death of his son in a 1999 militia attack on his refugee-packed home in Dili.

Judges at Indonesia's human rights court briefly halted proceedings as Manuel Carrascalao sobbed uncontrollably.

President Xanana Gusmao Wednesday defended his controversial request for an Indonesian court trying human rights crimes committed in East Timor to show clemency in one case, saying he was simply seeking uniformity of justice and had not interfered in Indonesia's internal affairs.

East Timorese government and UN officials held a fourth, unannounced round of reconciliation and repatriation talks with former anti-independence militia chief Joao Tavares Tuesday in the border town of Batugade, Dili's UN mission said Wednesday.

Police have detained two Sri Lankan men in Dili on "strong" suspicion they were working as an advance team for an illegal immigration network apparently linked to the arrival in East Timor of a freighter loaded with Sri Lankans allegedly headed to New Zealand.