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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – With its chrome chairs and international menu, the City Cafe could be in any modern capital around the world. But it is in the burnt-out city of Dili, two doors up from the site of a brutal massacre and just strolling distance from the former headquarters of one of East Timor's fiercest militias.

Brian Toohey – Well-trained soldiers dressed in Indonesian battle fatigues, and carrying Indonesian semi-automatic rifles, are trying extremely hard to kill Australian and other UN troops in East Timor. Yet influential commentators persist in urging Australia to ignore this malevolent behaviour in an effort to repair relations with Indonesia.

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.

Jakarta – Two UN agencies on Saturday pulled most of their foreign staff out of the West Timor border town of Atambua, a day after pro-Jakarta militia encircled and threatened their offices, UN officials said.

Joanna Jolly in Dili and Agencies – United Nations peacekeepers are gearing up for further trouble from pro-Jakarta militiamen as the anniversary of the territory's independence vote draws nears.

Dili – The head of the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor has demanded that Indonesia arrest and disarm militia leaders responsible for an attack in which a Nepalese soldier was killed and four others wounded.

Dublin – UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, will start a three day visit to East Timor tomorrow to monitor developments there since last year's unrest. Although it's gone from the headlines there is continuing violence if obviously not at the same levels as after last year's independence vote.

Jon Land – Despite the announcement on July 31 by Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid that refugee camps in West Timor controlled by the pro-Jakarta militia will be closed, the fate of tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees remains perilous. The terror campaign, which has intensified in recent months, will continue until the militias are disarmed and disbanded.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – Ethnic-Chinese businessmen trying to re-establish East Timor's economy have become a target for hostility and extortion by the local community.

The Chinese are re-starting the profitable wholesale, retail and supply operations they ran before last year's independence vote, but face strong opposition from indigenous East Timorese.

Dili – UN peacekeepers in East Timor are now facing a well trained and disciplined anti-independence militia force that continues to use Indonesian-West Timor as a safe haven, Australia's visiting defense minister said Friday.

The Timor Gap Treaty signed between Australia and Indonesia during the rule of former president Suharto is illegal, and is not recognised by either the United Nations or the East Timorese people.

Jon Land – The confrontation on July 24 between pro-Jakarta militia forces from West Timor and a detachment of New Zealand soldiers from the United Nations peace-keeping force – the third such incident along the western border since the end of May – highlights again the serious threat that the militia gangs pose.