Jon Land – East Timorese asylum seeker and independence activist Naldo Rai is being forced by immigration authorities and government officials to leave Australia.

Along with around 1600 East Timorese asylum seekers, he faces an uncertain future.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Making the transformation from a revolutionary front to an orthodox political party is a lot harder than it seems for East Timor's biggest pro-independence group, Fretilin.

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Former Indonesian military chief General Wiranto was grilled for more than seven hours on Tuesday by the Attorney-General's Office over his allegedly complicity in the devastation of newly-free East Timor last September.

Jon Land – Media reports during the recent visit to Australia by East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao highlighted the improving diplomatic relations between Australia, East Timor and Indonesia. Not so widely reported during Gusmao's trip were renewed calls for the Timor Gap Treaty to be renegotiated.

Jon Land - The 100,000 East Timorese refugees in camps in West Timor face daily hardship and terror from the pro-integration militia gangs which control or are active in many of the 200 camps. The repatriation of refugees to East Timor has slowed considerably.

Chris McCall, Jakarta – Former military chief General Wiranto yesterday finally resigned his cabinet post, after hours of official questioning over the bloodshed that hit East Timor last year.

Condemning soldiers who took sides in the aftermath of the historic vote for independence, General Wiranto said he was stepping down after four months suspension from his post.

Mark Dodd, Dili – One of East Timor's biggest and best known political groups, Fretilin, which spearheaded the bloody 24-year struggle for independence from Indonesia, yesterday began an historic conference to discuss its transformation from revolutionary front to mainstream political party.

Jennifer E. Reed, Washington – Priests assisting people in western Timor's refugee camps say the "vast majority" want to return to East Timor, but intimidation by pro-Indonesia militias is keeping them there, said a US human rights activist.

Mark Dodd, Dili – It is one of the darkest chapters of East Timor's independence struggle, Fretilin's purges and murder of several hundred dissidents and political prisoners in the aftermath of Indonesia's bloody 1975 invasion.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Autocratic decision-making by a few senior United Nations officials in Dili threatens the development of democracy in East Timor and the ultimate success of the peacekeeping mission, according to a protest note signed by angry UN district administrators.

Mark Dodd, Dili – At least one suspected militiaman was wounded in a heavy exchange of fire between Australian peacekeepers and a group of pro-Jakarta militia who had crossed into East Timor yesterday, a senior United Nations military official said.

Kupang – The Timorese People's Party (PPT) intends to soon register itself with UNTAET [UN Transitional Authority in East Timor ] and become one of the political parties to contest the first East Timor elections, expected to be held at the beginning of 2001.

Mark Dodd, DilI – In a groundbreaking decision, East Timor independence fighters will work alongside United Nations peacekeepers as liaison officers, a senior UN military official said yesterday.

Compere: An embarrassed Telstra is confronting something today; that its operation in East Timor is in breach of the local law.

Washington – Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is demanding punishment for those responsible for an "orgy of violence" in East Timor after it voted for independence from Indonesia.

The prospects are promising, she said Friday, citing recent moves by Indonesian investigators to question top generals.

The UN has made solid progress despite early snags, but problems persist, reports Herald Correspondent Mark Dodd in Dili.

Mark Riley, New York – The architect of East Timor's administrative blueprint for independence has accused United Nations bureaucrats of putting the territory's future second to their own careers in a way that "borders on criminal negligence".

Jakarta – The former chief of East Timor's Battalion 745 in Los Palos, Major Jacob Joko Sarosa, confirmed yesterday his superior had told him to mobilize troops after the East Timor ballot on August 30 last year. He said barring an order from his superior, the troops would still remain in military barracks.

Washington – The United States said on Friday it saw "promising prospects" for Indonesia's domestic investigation into atrocities in East Timor last year. But if the Indonesian judicial system failed to deliver credible justice, the international community would have to take on the task, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told a seminar for editors on war crimes.

West Timor – Tjitske Lingsma, reporting from one of the most notorious of the refugee camps, considers West Timor may end up with the monster created by the Indonesian army: the East Timorese militiamen.

Mark Dodd, Dili – United Nations police and human rights investigators have begun inspecting what is claimed to have been a militia torture centre used last year to force independence activists to support integration with Indonesia.

Australia failed to fulfil its duty of care to the Timorese people who were placed at risk by our Government's policy, says Tony Kevin.

Acting for a speedy independence, the National Council of Timorese Resistance (CNRT) has proposed the creation of a joint commission with the territory's transitional United Nations administration to prepare a constitutional conference next year.

Akara Reis, Dili – As workers prepare to celebrate their first May Day in a free East Timor, their pay and conditions of work remain very low, especially compared with the vast sums paid to foreign workers employed by the United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET).

Mark Dodd, Dili – A day after United Nations riot police swooped on armed gangs running amok in Dili, UN peacekeepers have raised concerns about another potential law and order problem: military-style neighbourhood watch groups.

Seth Mydans – People here have got used to the scene: a mob of unemployed young men shoving, shouting and weeping in anger outside the headquarters of the United Nations, held back by an impassive multinational police contingent.

Geneva – The flow of East Timorese refugees signing up to be repatriated from camps in West Timor is "grinding to a halt" because of fears they could be harassed on their return, the UN's refugee agency UNHCR said Tuesday.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Reports that Indonesian authorities are serious about bringing to justice Eurico Guterres, East Timor's most notorious militia commander, appear to be premature.

The long-haired, black-clad, former gang leader in Dili is often seen mingling with Indonesia's elite at a official functions in Jakarta.

Mark Dodd, Dili – United Nations riot police backed by soldiers from the peacekeeping force launched an extensive security operation yesterday to clear Dili's central market area of scores of armed youths, after the worst violence seen in the capital since last year's militia rampage.

Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office kicked off on Monday their official investigation into last year's violence in East Timor by questioning several Indonesian Military (TNI) officers. Former East Timor military commander Brig. Gen. Tono Suratman was grilled for more than six hours while his immediate superior, former Udayana Military commander Maj. Gen.

Mark Dodd, Suai – When Detective Senior Sergeant Matt Reynolds took part in a recent murder case in Canberra, about 20 detectives were assigned within 24 hours to solve the killing.

Geneva – The United Nations welcomed on Friday a campaign by Indonesia to get East Timorese members of the Indonesian army in West Timor to resettle in other parts of the country or resign from the military.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Former Information Minister Yunus Yosfiah has been accused of murdering five Western journalists in East Timor in 1975 by a new witness who gave evidence on an Australian television show.

Mark Dodd, Suai – An Indonesian court has jailed the notorious militia leader Laurentino Soares, known as Moko, for up to three years for illegally possessing firearms, according to United Nations observers.

Seth Mydans, Dili – There is not much question about the language of commerce here as East Timor begins to define itself as a nation. The muddy central market is alive with the cries of moneychangers: "Dollar America! Dollar America! America, America, America, America!"

Mark Dodd, Dili – When pro-Jakarta militias went on their rampage of arson, murder and looting last September they filled the classrooms of Dili's secondary schools with drums of fuel to ensure maximum damage before torching the buildings.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The United Nations mission in East Timor is considering reducing its 8,000-strong peacekeeping force because of concerns over costs and possible social problems created by its military presence.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The East Timorese leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, and a senior United Nations official will hold a public meeting in Dili today to discuss the the country's number one social problem – unemployment.

Nicole Winfield, United Nations – The first militia leaders accused of serious crimes in East Timor are expected to be brought to trial before international and East Timorese judges by June or July, a senior UN official said.

[The following is a sidebar from the Red Cross 2001 World Disasters Report. The writer is a medical doctor who has worked in Afghanistan and East Timor.]

Sydney – An Australian soldier facing expulsion from East Timor for trying to be a "spymaster" was well-intentioned but misguided, former Interfet commander Major General Peter Cosgrove said Tuesday.

Sonny Inbaraj, Darwin – In East Timor, Avelino da Silva is nicknamed the 'Negotiator' – a reference to one of the main characters in a Frederick Forsyth novel.

Dili – Bishop Carlos Belo would be shocked if he knew. It is well after midnight and the streets of Dili are deserted, except for a few stray dogs. But the discotheque on the multi-storey cruise ship moored at shore is packed, sweaty and jumping to loud music.

Dili – Portuguese national guardsmen serving with the UN police force in East Timor were called Friday to the BNU bank in Dili, to control a crowd dissatisfied with a revised exchange rate for Portuguese escudos and Indonesian rupiahs.

David Lague – An independent East Timor would have a powerful legal case to renegotiate the Timor Gap treaty and win a bigger share of potentially massive oil and gas revenues, according to legal and oil industry experts.

Comment by Andrew McNaughtan – When the Australian and Indonesian foreign ministers toasted the signing of the Timor Gap treaty in 1989 it was presented as a diplomatic coup and a sign of a friendly, co-operative relationship.

Akara Leon and Vanja Tanaja, Dili – Sixty East Timorese workers at the aid agency World Vision walked off the job and demonstrated on April 3, demanding an explanation from management for the sacking of eight security guards.

Lindsay Murdoch – Almost every day people trail into the Liquica police station to tell the United Nations police stationed there about new grave sites.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Indonesia has opened the way for some of its top military officers and the leaders of pro-Jakarta militia groups responsible for last year's violence in East Timor to be put on trial in the United Nations-controlled territory.

Joanna Jolly, Atambua – The Indonesian army is training militias in West Timor for an invasion into East Timor next month despite its continued denials, according to a West Timorese church leader and a human rights organisation.