On June 6 and 7, the Indonesian government conducted a procedure throughout the refugee camps in West Timor. One stated objective was to allow each family to choose whether to be resettled in Indonesia or to return to East Timor, their homeland from which they were forcibly abducted 21 months ago.

The East Timorese leader [currently cabinet member for foreign affairs] Jose Ramos Horta says his country cannot support the claim to secession by the Papuans in Indonesia's Irian Jaya Province. Mr Ramos Horta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize three years before East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia, says East Timor cannot support every secession claim in the region...

Karen Polglaze, Canberra – East Timor could not begin its life as an independent country by scaring off investors – so it would reach agreement with Australia on a Timor Gap Treaty, interim foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta said today.

Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timorese languishing in Indonesian refugee camps were asked yesterday if they wanted to stay or go home as aid agencies warned that those who opted to go home faced violent retaliation from the militias who control the camps.

John Gauci, Sydney – "East Timorese must ask themselves, why are we still divided? We can't go on holding other countries to blame", the new country's foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta told a public lecture at the University of New South Wales on May 30. "There is need for reconciliation. We need to develop relations with our neighbors and swallow our pride.

Canberra – Administrative action is being taken against two defence personnel following high profile document leak investigations. Defence department secretary Dr Alan Hawke told a Senate estimates committee the inquiries related to leaking of documents concerning East Timor and to alleged espionage by a Defence Intelligence Organisation employee who is now before the court.

Canberra – An interim East Timorese government minister has accused Telstra of monitoring private telephone conversations within the fledging country. Infrastructure Minister Joao Carrascalao said Telstra did not have a main switch in Dili and the communication was transmitted via Adelaide.

Andrew West – Australian Government officials have been accused of burying a crucial intelligence report about a 1998 Indonesian massacre in the West Papua town of Biak because it did not want to offend Indonesia so soon after it had thrown off the Soeharto dictatorship.

The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) today reported that the grenade attack that killed five people along the East/West Timor border last week was the result of a private dispute between a militia member and a gambling ring organizer.

By Tim Anderson for AID/WATCH

1. World Bank dictating terms of development in East Timor

Brendan Pearson – East Timor's bounty from Timor Gap oil and gas revenues may hit $US1 ($1.95 billion) billion annually this decade, East Timor's interim Foreign Minister, Dr Jose Ramos Horta, said yesterday.

Mark Dodd, Dili – A dispute over illegal trade on the East Timor border with Indonesian West Timor is thought to have caused a series of grenade attacks on Tuesday that left at least five people dead and about 40 injured, United Nations military sources say.

London – Human rights abuses emerged in East Timor last year amid delays in rebuilding the territory after the bloody destruction carried out by Indonesian forces, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

The death toll in yesterday's attack along the border between East and West Timor has reached five, with up to 40 people injured, the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) confirmed today.

Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timor In an effort to mend an economy devastated by the violence that accompanied the Indonesian withdrawal in 1999, the United Nations transitional administration in East Timor is trying to get the American dollar widely accepted as the only legal tender.

A group of GNR (Guarda Nacional Republicana) [a security arm of Civpol], on Monday, fired warning shots at a group of RDTL supporters and activists at the border of Metinaro and Manatuto. Sixteen people were injured in clashes with the GNR and seven are receiving treatment at the Baucau General Hospital.

Mark Dodd, Gleno – Ironically, it is neglect which has produced independent East Timor's first major export crop: world-class organic, forest-grown coffee.

Jon Land – The World Bank has been prominent in East Timor's transition to full independence – so prominent in fact that the country now faces a looming struggle about whether the institution's neo-liberal economic model, so renowned for the hardship it has caused other poor countries, will be imposed on East Timor too.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Only 5 per cent of East Timorese understand the purpose of the United Nations-organised election to be held on August 30, a voter education survey released yesterday found. Most thought they would be choosing a president rather than an assembly.

Jakarta – Indonesian authorities are preparing for the registration of some 100,000 East Timorese refugees in camps in West Timor, a report said Tuesday.

The government has set up 507 registration stations across East Nusa Tenggara province which includes West Timor, to find out how many of the refugees want to return home, and how many want to remain in Indonesia.

Partido Trabalhista Timor (PTT), on Friday, submitted its registration application with the Independent Electoral Commission. The party also nominated Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos-Horta as its candidates for the Constituent Assembly.

Richard Galpin, Dili – East Timor is celebrating becoming the world's newest country. It has been under United Nations administration since 1999 when it overwhelmingly voted to break away from 24 years of Indonesian rule. Pro-Indonesian militias went on a bloody rampage following the vote, leaving parts of East Timor in ruins.

Jakarta – An Indonesian military leader yesterday in Kupang, West Nusa Tenggara (NTT), expressed doubt that 95% of the East Timorese refugees in East Nusa Tenggara would opt to stay.

Mark Dodd, Dili – In a breakthrough for relations between East Timor and its former ruler, Jakarta has finally agreed to settle the issue of pension payments to East Timorese who worked for the Indonesian government during its 24-year occupation.

The withdrawal of Indonesian rupiahs from Timor Lorosae was a good step because it would prevent confusion in currency usage in the country. But UNTAET and the government of Indonesia must immediately convert rupiahs circulating in the country to US dollars.

Virginia Marsh and Tom Mccawley – Australia and East Timor are edging towards agreement on a critical new treaty to govern the Timor Gap, paving the way for development of the substantial gas deposits in the resource-rich waters that divide the two neighbours.

Seth Mydans, Jakarta – A strange red banner hangs over the gate of one of the middle-class villas on a quiet street in central Jakarta: "Am I really a criminal for defending the red and white? – E. Guterres." Inside, near a red-and-white Indonesian flag, a group of workmen is building a waterfall and fishpond.

Mark Davis – In September 1999, the Australian Army stepped into the carnage of East Timor as the lead contributor in the international force INTERFET. Supposedly, they were there to contain the militias and the fearsome militias proved remarkably easy to contain, Displaying none of their previous bravery, bravado or organisational skills.

The Concelho Nacional da Recistencia Timorense/Congresso Nasional (CNRT/CN) will be dissolved in early June 2001. Ex-members of CNRT will then form the Resistance Veterans Foundation. An extra-ordinary conference will be held between 28-29 May to pave the way for the CNRT dissolution.

Jonathan Thatcher, Balibo – Maria Maia, her mouth stained scarlet from the juice of the betel nuts she chews, bursts out laughing as she fingers her just-printed photograph on the registration form.

Scott Burchill – Given advance notice that the street bully is about to beat up your neighbour, three courses of action are open to you. The first is to try to dissuade the bully from his violent intent. The second is to warn your neighbour so that he can make preparations to defend himself or flee. The third is to do nothing, sit back and watch the attack.

The leader of the Catholic Church in Dili, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo urged academics at the National University of Timor Lorosae to use the campus grounds solely for the pursuit of higher edcuation and not for political activities.

"Use the university campus to increase the knowledge of students so that they become quality intellectuals," said Bishop Belo.

Participants at a weekend discussion seminar, organized by the human rights NGO Yayasan Hak, expressed their frustration at UNTAET. Many said they did not understand the Transitional Administration's work-plan and added the people were confused about the 30 August election and the civic education program.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The plight of a 15-year-old East Timorese girl kept as a sex slave for more than 18 months in a militia-controlled refugee camp in Indonesian West Timor has highlighted the vulnerability of refugee children separated from their parents during political violence in 1999, the United Nations said at the weekend.

Chris McCall, Dili – Fed up with Indonesia's feeble attempts at administering justice to accused war criminals, the families of East Timor's dead are getting together to do it their way.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – The head of the UN Central Payments Office, which manages the territory's tiny and shattered economy, told reporters that the world body was taking legal steps and launching an educational campaign urging East Timorese to embrace US greenbacks and coins as the sole legal tender.

Mark Dodd, Dili – United Nations economic planners have launched a campaign to ensure the US dollar is the sole legal tender in East Timor. To back it up, heavy fines will be imposed to deter the unlicensed importation of all other foreign currencies, including the Australian dollar.

The Australian government knew about Indonesian military plans to massacre East Timor independence supporters in 1999 and thought clever diplomacy could prevent it, a former member of the INTERFET forces said.

The General Co-ordinator of CPD-RDTL Antonio Aitahan Matak yesterday rejected allegations that the group was behind the threats against CNRT President Xanana Gusmao.

In an official letter, which was obtained by STL, Aitahan Matak said CPD-RDTL cadres never had any intentions to harm Xanana because they were all Catholics.

[In an extraordinary investigation, reporter Mark Davis returns to East Timor to disclose disturbing new revelations about Australia's secret intelligence information prior to the country's independence referendum. Davis's report in 2000 on militias in East Timor won him both the Walkley for Investigative Reporting and the Gold Walkley.

Partai Asosiacao Social Democrat Timor (ASDT) will this week try to get itself registered with the Independent Election Commission. They intend to use Fretilin symbols and the party's political ideology.

Vanya Tanaja, Dili – News that Indonesia has formally agreed to set up an ad hoc tribunal to try those responsible for mass murder in East Timor around the period of the 1999 independence referendum was welcomed by Sergio de Mello, head of UNTAET (United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor) on April 27.

A report by members of the Portuguese parliament criticizes the UN Transition Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) as being "costly and not very efficient".

Chris McCall, Dili – Once branded a gang of dangerous left-wingers, Fretilin is out in the open and may be set to win through the ballot what it lost in 1975 with bullets.

Jill Jollife, Dariwn – An Australian Army intelligence officer who served in East Timor has accused the Federal Government of concealing vital evidence on Indonesian army and militia war crimes in 1999.

Fifteen militia commanders on Saturday accepted the 30 August 1999 referendum result, because it was, as they said, the decision of the majority.

The decision by the militia leaders was made at a tripartite meeting between CNRT, the Defense Forces of Timor Lorosae (FDTL) and PPI (the militia grouping), in Denpasar, Bali.

Melbourne – Tough negotiations over a Timor Sea oil and gas production treaty are likely to resume between Australia and East Timor later this month in Dili as commercial deadlines loom for a key gas development in the region.

Agencies in Jakarta and Geneva – The United Nations and foreign diplomats yesterday condemned as a mockery jail terms imposed by a Jakarta court on six men convicted in connection with the murders of three foreign aid workers in West Timor last year.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Jakarta has dropped prosecutions against six people who have been under investigation over crimes against humanity in East Timor, including the notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres.

Lindsay Murdoch – Indonesia has dropped prosecutions against six people who have been under investigation for more than 12 months over crimes against humanity in East Timor, including the notorious militia leader Eurico Guterres.