Hamish Mcdonald – Australian diplomatic cables released yesterday covering Indonesia's takeover of East Timor in 1974-76 show officials caught in a web of deceit and moral compromise that led to a foreign policy disaster. Revelations in hundreds of pages of until now secret documents include:

No check was made to see if any Australians were in the area before Indonesia's attack, Foreign Affairs documents show. Hamish McDonald reports.

Just-released Foreign Affairs documents show how Australia encouraged Indonesia to grab East Timor by its own early complicity in plans for the takeover, writes Hamish McDonald.

Tom Hayland – The depressing saga of Australian efforts to establish the fate of the five Australia-based TV reporters killed in Balibo illustrates the bind that Australian diplomats had created for themselves.

Jon Land – The brutal murder on September 6 of three United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) staff by pro-Jakarta militia thugs at Atambua marks a dangerous turning point for 120,000 East Timorese refugees languishing in camps around West Timor.

Compere: Well, supporters of East Timor have long interpreted Australia's actions as a betrayal on the broad international stage of an entire people, but there's also that narrower focus of betrayal of our own people, especially the five young men from Channel 9 and Channel 7 who died at Balibo.

Kerry O'Brien: First, the Timor papers, released today, which finally confirm after a quarter of a century of suspicion that Australia was warned in advance of Indonesia's brutal invasion of East Timor in 1975 and condoned it.

Compere: We begin by going back almost exactly a quarter of a century to the momentous spring of 1975, the time leading up to the two most contentious and divisive issues of recent Australian political history. In domestic affairs the dismissal, and in foreign policy the Indonesian invasion of East Timor.

Jakarta – The global group Human Rights Watch on Saturday called for an independent investigation with UN participation of the brutal murders of three UN humanitarian workers in West Timor.

Barbie Dutter, Dili – Survivors of the savage militia rampage through a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in West Timor told of fleeing for their lives as colleagues were murdered and mutilated by a mob armed with machetes.

David O'Shea – On the balcony of their new home in Kupang, West Timor, her fingers covered in gold rings, Mrs Guterres watches her children play in front of the office that publishes her husband's anti-independence newspaper, Timorfile.

Keith Loveard, Vaudine England and Agencies – The United Nations said 20 people were killed in renewed fighting in Indonesian West Timor yesterday, two days after the murder of four aid workers.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – An Indonesian aid worker now in hiding in West Timor believes notorious East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres started arming youths in the provincial capital, Kupang, days before this week's murders in Atambua.

Irwan Firdaus, Atambua – Hundreds of gun-toting militiamen staged a show of force Friday in a West Timor village where UN officials fear the militants killed 20 people despite Indonesia's promises to impose control in the territory.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia promised to send two extra battalions to the West Timor border where militia killed up to six United Nations staff on Wednesday, as speculation arose that the chain of command in the country's armed forces had broken down.

Lindsay Murdoch – The plan was simple and savage: kill Olivio Mendoza Moruk and the pro-Jakarta militia roaming West Timor would go berserk, as they did when they left East Timor last year.

The killers left nothing to chance: they sliced his throat and cut off his testicles. Moruk became a martyr among the thugs of the militia.

Jakarta – A chronoloy of major events since East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia on August 30, 1999.

Aug 30, 1999: East Timorese vote for self-determination in record numbers in a UN-supervised ballot.

Sept 4: Announcement of the vote results shows 78.5 percent of East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia.

Jakarta – When East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia last year, feared militia leader Eurico Guterres made his displeasure known by sending his armed followers to the airport to block any East Timorese from leaving.

Vaudine England – Tension had been escalating in the refugee camps of Indonesian West Timor for several weeks before yesterday's attack on the UN office in Atambua, in which three staff, all foreigners, were burned to death.

David Crary, United Nations – Six hours before he and two colleagues were murdered in West Timor, an American relief worker e-mailed a friend at a UN security office with a warning that a mob was en route to destroy his compound. "We sit here like bait, unarmed," he wrote.

Mark Dodd, Suai – They gathered by the thousand, many bringing tributes of flowers to mark the single worst act of militia violence in East Timor – the Suai Cathedral massacre one year ago.

Outside the chapel where Fathers Hilario Madeira, Francisco Soares and Dewanto were hacked and shot to death and their bodies burnt, hundreds wept, laid flowers and placed candles.

Philippa Skinner and Jill Hickson, Dili – From August 21-29, members of East Timor's seven political parties participated in the congress of the CNRT (National Council for Timorese Resistance), which debated a wide range of recommendations and proposals for the development of Timor's political system between now and the elections to be held in 2001.

Dili – Members of Timorese Socialist Party (PST) around East Timor have been occupying buildings left by the Indonesian government in order to establish offices for their work with the grassroots.

In order to claim right to use empty buildings, groups have to inform the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor that they are taking possession.

Stewart Taggart – Walk down any street in East Timor's capitol of Dili and the scene is the same: blackened, roofless buildings and heaps of rubble. Severed telephone lines dangle from exposed walls, charred satellite dishes point skyward, and traffic lights stare blindly at intersections. Only a tiny fraction of the city's 60,000 residents have running water or electricity.

Matthew Rothschild, Dili – On August 30, a huge crowd in Dili, East Timor, gathered to celebrate the first anniversary of the independence vote for this tiny nation. But all is not well in East Timor.

Rising tensions and an increasing number of attacks on foreign aid workers in West Timor reduced the IOM/UNHCR repatriations of East Timorese refugees to a trickle in July and August. In early July, IOM was forced to suspend all return operations from the Kupang area following fighting between the local population and East Timorese refugees.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Western diplomats and senior Indonesian military officers say the pro-Jakarta militias operating in West Timor are still being sponsored by a group of retired and serving generals with links to the ousted Suharto regime.

Jakarta – A peaceful demonstration by East Timorese refugees to commemorate the first anniversary of East Timor's secession from Indonesia turned brutal yesterday, when they attacked East Nusa Tenggara's provincial legislative building.

Mark Dodd, Dili – After a 24-hour session, East Timor's main independence umbrella group has reaffirmed support for Mr Xanana Gusmao as its leader and approved measures aimed at a smooth transition to independence.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – On a day tinged with sadness and joy, thousands of East Timorese yesterday celebrated the first anniversary of their independence from often brutal colonial rule by Indonesia.

Heather Paterson, Aileu – They fought a desperate jungle war against Indonesia's occupation for a quarter of a century. Now, one year after East Timor broke free, they have no place to go and nothing to do.

Mark Dodd, Dili – East Timor independence leaders have accused the United Nations of failing to uphold its mandate to provide security for the country in the face of cross-border attacks by pro-Indonesian militia.

Tim Dodd, Dili – "When the UN pulls out, the whole system's going to crash," says Mr Kirk MacManus, the manager of Hello Mister, Dili's only Western-style supermarket, which is housed in a building that until recently was a burnt-out shell.

Jon Land – August 30 is the first anniversary of East Timor's courageous act of self-determination, when, after 24 years of occupation, 78.9% of voters defied concerted Indonesian military and militia attempts to crush support for independence and voted for an end to Indonesian rule.

Francesca Davis, Dili – Its 4.45pm and the heat is stifling. There is a crowd of students at the door, smiling at me hopefully. Some have travelled miles on foot, on top of buses and in carts to get here. Word had spread that English courses are being offered at the university. We have had to turn scores away. We only have 25 computers for 500 students.

Paul Daley – A small group of Australian politicians and military chiefs still shudder when they recollect receiving a top-secret report from the Australian Defence Intelligence Organisation on September 28 last year – just eight days after the first of 5000 Australian troops led InterFET into East Timor under a United Nations mandate at Indonesia's invitation.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – It had been a bad few hours. Tempers were starting to fray. Some people wept. As gunfire echoed around the besieged United Nations compound in Dili, hope that the madness would soon end turned to despair. Then a remarkable thing happened. At 3.15am, probably the darkest hour of a long night, Pedro poked his tiny head into the world.

Daniel Nelson, Dili – Economic and social rights are as important as traditionally defined human rights, UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson emphasised on her recent visit to East Timor. But many people in what will soon become the world's newest independent country made it clear they had a more pressing priority: justice for past wrongs.

Vanja Tanaja, Dili – Speaking at a meeting of the just weeks-old East Timor Press Club on August 12, Jose Ramos Horta, vice-president of the National Council for Timorese Resistance (CNRT) said that the CNRT would cease to exist "in six to 12 months' time".

Mark Dodd, Dili – Almost a year since voting to end Indonesian rule, East Timor is about to launch into open politicking about the shape of its independent state once the United Nations interim administration ends.

The UN is to draft legislation allowing political campaigning for the first democratic parliamentary elections next year.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Government ministers admit they were caught off guard by a constitutional amendment which appears to provide legal protection to the generals and other military officers behind last year's violent rampage through East Timor.

Prosecutors say they will name all those officers being held responsible tomorrow, with the view to an eventual trial.

Jakarta – Suspected militiamen attacked a UNHCR mission in Indonesia bringing aid to a refugee camp in West Timor on Tuesday, badly beating up three of its members, a UN official there said.

"It was totally without explanation," UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) officer Adelmno Risi told AFP by phone from the West Timor capital of Kupang.

Mark Dodd, Aileu – Fighters from the former guerilla resistance force Falintil, in their first move out of forced cantonment since the United Nations entered East Timor, will join UN peacekeepers in hunting down pro-Indonesian militia launching cross-border raids.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – The upsurge in fighting on the border between East and West Timor is the latest sign that the Indonesian military's special forces remain outside the control of the Government, Jakarta-based diplomats say.

Jakarta – Indonesian Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab on Saturday said some soldiers might have encouraged the pro-Jakarta militias in the border area of East Timor.

"It is possible that certain individual [soldiers] have encouraged the militias' operations, but as an institution it is obvious that the military doesn't want the incidents to happen," Shihab told journalists.

Andrew Perrin, Ainaro – Fearing UN peacekeepers cannot guarantee their safety, villagers in East Timor's mountainous central south-west have fled to the forest or formed vigilante groups against possible militia attack.

A group of prominent East Timorese leaders, spanning the territory's historical political spectrum, are organizing a new center-right political party with the apparent blessing of independence leader Xanana Gusmao, a key organizer said Wednesday.

Jon Land – Pro-Jakarta militia operating out of refugee camps and other bases in West Timor show no sign of scaling down their attacks upon refugees or United Nations soldiers and humanitarian staff.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia yesterday denied responsibility for intensified attacks by militias on international forces inside East Timor.

Tomi Soetjipto, Jakarta – Indonesia conceded on Friday it could not fully control its border with East Timor where another UN soldier was killed in a gunfight with pro-Jakarta gangs, and said the only solution was to close refugee camps in West Timor.