Jakarta – East Nusa Tenggara Military district chief Col. Moeswarno Moesanip consoled some 30,000 pro-integration East Timorese refugees who were politically estranged in West Timor following East Timor's independence on Monday, saying all sides, including the military must accept the reality.

Lyall Johnson – As East Timor celebrated its nationhood yesterday, 1600 East Timorese asylum seekers living in Australia faced an anxious wait to see if they could remain in the country many have called home for more than a decade.

Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement armed wing (AGAM) joined the worldwide chorus of congratulations for the people of East Timor on their independence and the inauguration of Xanana Gusmao as the country's first president.

Dili – Australian soldiers marred East Timor's independence day by stealing flags from outside a Dili hotel, an Australian businessman claimed.

Hotel Dili manager Gino Favaro also accused the six soldiers of threatening a local security guard with a rifle butt.

Vaudine England – Indonesian media greeted the birth of an independent East Timor with congratulations and the stated desire for better ties. But behind the positive rhetoric remains a Government and armed forces determined to avoid responsibility for past abuses in the new nation.

Dean Yates, Dili – About the only thing pro-Jakarta militias didn't destroy in their rampage after East Timor voted in 1999 to break free was something they couldn't touch – the territory's stunning natural beauty.

Joseph Fitchete, Lisbon – Bill Clinton presumably didn't notice any problems during East Timor's independence celebrations last week. After nearly two days' flying time to the Pacific as the Bush administration's representative, Clinton spent only a few hours in Dili, the new capital.

Jakarta – Vice President Hamzah Haz expressed on Monday his sympathy over the Seroja fighters' frustration at President Megawati Soekarnoputri's visit to East Timor, but reminded the nation to move forward and to not only look at the past, reportssaid.

Ben Terrall, Oakland, California – East Timor will celebrate its independence today after throwing off a 24-year Indonesian military occupation that killed 200,000 East Timorese.

As the East Timorese celebrated their hard-won independence overnight, spare a thought for the Jakarta lobby in Australia, including luminaries such as Dick Woolcott, Gough Whitlam, Gareth Evans and Paul Keating, to name only a few. How must they feel?

These men have dedicated much of their professional lives to opposing just such an event.

[East Timor has claimed its independence. How is the new nation viewed by its imposing neighbour, Indonesia? Tony Eastley speaks with Wimar Witoelar, who was spokesman for Indonesia's former president Abdurrahmin Wahid, and who is now a visiting professor of journalism at Deakin University, in Victoria. Compere: Tony Eastley Reporter: Tony Eastley.]

Don Greenlees, Dili – Soon after sundown in a football field here, Domingos Ribero's gaze fixes on the screen of a makeshift outdoor cinema. Images from East Timor's violent past unfold before him, captivating a large audience who have been exposed to little of their own history.

Dili – Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri was greeted by 50 silent protesters shortly after she arrived in East Timor late on Sunday to attend independence events for a territory Jakarta once ruled with an iron fist.

Ben Terrall – As the world's newest nation looks forward, the US must look back at its complicity in East Timor's bloody past. Recently declassified documents reveal that the United States gave a "green light" to Indonesian dictator Suharto before his invasion of East Timor. It's no time, writes PNS contributor Ben Terrall, to renew military aid to Indonesia.

Harald Bruning, Macau – East Timor's constitution, which came into force at midnight last night, is a combination of civil guarantees, national fervour and provisions for social welfare and public ownership of the half-island's natural resources.

[It's the world's newest republic, but it will take a long time for old sores to heal. Lindsay Murdoch and Tom Hyland explain why guilty parties on both sides will get off scot-free.]

Dili – East Timor formally swore in its cabinet on Monday, hours after the tiny territory became independent and new President Xanana Gusmao took office.

Tom Hyland, Dili – Prime Minister John Howard has rejected suggestions that Australia has treated East Timor unfairly in negotiations over the carve-up of rich oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

Dili – On their first day of East Timor's independence, leaders of the new country raised the prospect of taking Australia to court to gain a greater share of the rights to resources in the waters dividing the two countries.

Yemris Fointuna, Atambua – As East Timorese proclaimed their hard-fought independence at midnight on May 19 and changed the name of their country to Timor Lorosae, some 30,000 refugees originally hailing from the new country opted to remain in Indonesia.

Tributes

"If 92 countries are gathered here today it is because the settlement of the question of East Timor was the responsibility of the international community.

Tom Hyland and Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – East Timor became an independent nation early this morning but a row over the unauthorised arrival of Indonesian warships highlighted the potential fragility of its hard-won freedom.

An Australian with one of the closest associations with East Timor, former diplomat James Dunn, has concerns about East Timor's future as an independent country.

Michael Casey, Liquica – Marie Fernanda remembered hearing the voices of the approaching attackers as her family was fixing dinner three years ago.

Simba – Today on the eve of the independence ceremonies for East Timor many of the international delegates arrived to address the press. At one press conference was the Australian president (sic) John Howard who was greeted by members of the International Solidarity Movement of West Papua and Aceh.

Philip Sherwell – East Timor has not known a weekend like it. The flags of the world fluttered above Dili yesterday as workmen gave a final spruce-up to the down-at-heel waterfront capital before the arrival of dignitories from nearly 100 countries, including Bill Clinton and Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, for tonight's independence celebrations.

Tom Hyland and Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – A fully armed Indonesian warship was last night ordered out of Dili Harbour by East Timor and the United Nations after it arrived unannounced and in violation of an agreement covering tomorrow's independence celebrations.

An air of optimism buoys East Timor as it prepares to celebrate nationhood. But there are dark clouds on the horizon, Tom Hyland and Lindsay Murdoch report.

Jill Jolliffe – When Fretilin leaders first declared East Timor independent in Dili in 1975 few took much notice of Jose Alexandre Gusmao. But at midnight tomorrow the man who is now known simply as Xanana to many will become president of the new nation.

East Timor's first cabinet was sworn in on December 1, 1975, just six days before Indonesia invaded.

Mark Forbes – Australia and East Timor have reached agreement over exploiting the rich oil and gas fields in the Timor Gap, with Prime Minister John Howard to sign a treaty at independence celebrations in Dili next week.

Audrey Young – At midnight on Sunday in East Timor, a greying former fighter with the rhythmic name of the newest sovereign nation of the century, East Timor.

In the shadows, sharing his emotional moment, will be his younger Australian wife, 36-year-old Kirsty Sword, pregnant with their second child.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan called on Indonesia to pursue the trials of officers accused of gross human rights abuses in East Timor effectively and credibly.

Jakarta – UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan Saturday downplayed the likelihood that an international tribunal would be established to try those responsible for violence that swept East Timor after it voted for independence in 1999.

Muhammad Nafik, Jakarta – East Timor's secession in 1999 has still left bitter pains for many Indonesians, particularly veterans who fought for its integration with Indonesia 27 years ago.

They lashed out at President Megawati Soekarnoputri's decision to visit East Timor to attend the former Indonesian province's independence declaration at midnight on Sunday.

The United Nations Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) asked the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) administration on Thursday to protect East Timorese students studying in Kupang from intimidation carried out by a group of Timorese refugees.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – On the eve of East Timor's independence a majority of Indonesians, ranging from the influential political elite to ordinary people, appear ready to accept the new nation as a friendly neighbour.

Alan Boyd, Sydney – Time is running out for a settlement of disputed oil and gas royalties in the Timor Gap, as Australia turns up the diplomatic heat on the fledgling Timorese republic just ahead of its independence celebrations.

Adam Majendie. Dili – At midnight on Sunday, the eastern part of the island of Timor, 500 kilometers north of Australia, ends four centuries of foreign rule to become the world's newest country. It gains independence only in name.

East Timor Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo complained of the rise in foreign prostitutes in the staunchly Catholic territory, which becomes independent at midnight on Sunday.

Bronwyn Curran, Dili – The flags of the world are fluttering above a frenzy of roof-fixing, painting and construction as East Timor's waterfront capital spruces up to welcome VIPs from 92 countries, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and exUS president Bill Clinton, for its giant May 19 independence party.

Joanne Collins, Manatuto – Fidgeting in his chair and staring at the ground, Matias Soares recalls the night he and other pro-Jakarta militiamen went on a rampage, torching houses one by one, after East Timor voted to break from Indonesian rule in 1999.

Soares and his mates in this seaside town of Manatuto had just looted beer from a kiosk and were roaring drunk.

Alexander Weissink, Jakarta – The world's youngest democracy will have to stand on its own feet from Sunday. On this day East Timor will become the first newly independent nation of the 21st century. After more than 400 years of colonial rule by Portugal, 25 years of Indonesian occupation and over two years under UN administration, the wish of its people is being fulfilled.

Conservative and isolated for decades, East Timor's Catholic Church is the most powerful institution in the soon-to-be nation, with many Timorese saying its charismatic leader, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo, commands more respect than Xanana Gusamo.

Chris McCall, Dili – Nearly 20 years ago, the remote East Timor community of Muapitine was shaken by a string of killings. The victims were clandestine resistance workers and their own relatives joined in the killing.

Eric Ellis, Dili – A warrior of the East Timor Defence Force stands guard outside the offices of Aderito Hugo da Costa, editor-in-chief of Dili's Timor Post.

As Bill Clinton leads the US delegation to East Timor's independence celebration, the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) urged that the history of US support for Indonesia's military occupation of East Timor not be forgotten. On May 20, East Timor will become the first new nation of the millennium.

Lely T. Djuhari, Jakarta – Not everyone will be cheering Monday when East Timor declares its independence and becomes the world's newest nation two years after seceding from Indonesia.

Dean Yates, Dili – Caitono Soares erupted in anger when he saw East Timor's national flag being peddled from the back of a car in the capital Dili.

East Timor has traditionally been a patriarchal society with limited opportunities for women, but Maria Domingas, an ex-guerilla, says that it is now necessary to "start from scratch" in the struggle for equality between the sexes.

Colum Lynch, United Nations – The United States is seeking assurances from the United Nations that all UN personnel serving in a peacekeeping mission in East Timor would be shielded from prosecution by a local court or international tribunal on war crimes charges, according to US and other Western officials.