David Boey – International relief teams sent to help displaced East Timor residents in the town of Suai have learned of alleged atrocities committed by roving gangs of militiamen working with Indonesian Army troops.

One incident was said to have involved the slaughter of about 200 Suai residents, who had sought refuge in the Church of Fatimah on Sept 6.

Suai – Indonesian soldiers and pro-Jakarta militia slaughtered as many as 200 people in a church compound in this town in southwestern East Timor in September, an eyewitness claimed Saturday.

Dili – Peacekeepers battled with anti-independence attackers on East Timor for more than an hour Saturday, killing three of the militiamen and wounding three others, peacekeeping officials said.

Dili – The head of the multinational force in East Timor, Major General Peter Cosgrove said Thursday that Indonesia had admitted its forces fired the first shots in a border clash last weekend.

Andrew Marshall, Dili – Hundreds of anti-independence militiamen are still active in East Timor and the border is not yet secure against more entering, the head of the UN-mandated multinational force said on Friday.

Joanna Jolly, Dili – By 9am the crowd outside the stadium in East Timor's capital Dili has already begun to swell in anticipation of the arrival of the day's first refugees being flown back from Indonesian West Timor.

Sydney – Australia has begun talks with East Timorese leaders over the Timor Gap treaty under which Australia and Indonesia share oil revenue from the Timor Sea, officials said Wednesday.

Dili – The United Nations said Wednesday it had uncovered no evidence to support allegations that pro-Jakarta militia engaged in mass murder in East Timor.

"We've heard horrendous stories for which so far there's not a shred of evidence," Michel Barton, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) in Dili told Reuters.

Andi Jatmiko, Liquica – Dozens of anti-independence militiamen who fled East Timor are secretly returning with plans to launch a guerrilla campaign against the international peacekeepers charged with keeping them out.

Melbourne – Independent East Timor will be a western-style democracy with open institutions and a diversified economy driven by exports of coffee, oil, gas and tourism, the man likely to be its first leader has promised.

Five hundred members of TNI battalions who are East Timorese met last Wednesday to pledge their loyalty to the pro-integration struggle by joining the PPI, the Force to Struggle for Integration, in a ceremony attended by Udayana military commander, Major-General Adam Damiri.

"I naturally welcome your dedication," said Adam, "but not as members of the TNI."

Melbourne – The East Timorese people were prepared to accept the risk of armed struggle against Indonesia and now accept the high cost of their freedom, resistance leader Xanana Gusmao said Monday.

Dili – Australia and Indonesia Monday traded accusations over a border clash between the multinational forces in East Timor and Indonesian troops, as Australia called for urgent top-level talks to defuse the row.

Paula Doran – Paul Morris has just served his fourth, and probably his last mission with the United Nations. He says the humanitarian organisation betrayed the trust of the East Timorese and did not treat its local staff properly.

Paul Daley – Australian intelligence agencies have new evidence that Indonesian military officials are systematically covering up their East Timor atrocities, with a program to intimidate and kill pro-integration militiamen who carried out much of the carnage.

Ian Hunter, London – Australian special forces and navy divers were scouting the terrain of East Timor and Indonesian forces deployments inside the territory months before the actual landing of United Nations-approved peacemakers last month, a senior Australian defence source has revealed.

Singapore – Pro-Indonesian militias are undergoing training in guerilla warfare with the aim of killing Australian soldiers spearheading a multinational force in East Timor, Singapore's Sunday Times said.

Dili – An Interfet foot patrol has shot dead a militia fighter near the East Timor border with Indonesian West Timor, an Australian army spokesman said Sunday.

Agence France Presse, Cassa – The armed men involved in a fatal clash with international peacekeepers in East Timor were from a feared militia that has committed a series of atrocities, witnesses said yesterday.

Tom Fawthrop and Marianne Kearney, Kupang – More than 230,000 East Timorese refugees in West Timor camps are being pressed to declare whether they want to return home or stay in Indonesia.

Jakarta's Ministry of Transmigration has been preparing a resettlement plan to absorb more than 250,000 East Timorese, with promises of two hectares of land and a house.

Dili – Indonesian commandos are conducting covert operations inside East Timor aimed at sabotaging the international peacekeeping effort, foreign military officials say.

Rene Flipo, Maliana – The few people who greeted the first international peacekeepers to arrive in the devastated and deserted town of Maliana yesterday recounted tales of terror, massacres and forced deportations.

Dili – Falintil resistance fighters will be allowed to retain their weapons in their camps pending further disarmament negotiations, despite a UN mandate to disarm all groups, an Interfet spokesman said Tuesday.

The multinational force in East Timor (Interfet) was wise to avoid a firefight earlier this week with members of the resistance force, Falintil, by backing away from demands that the guerillas surrender their weapons. This is a directive that must be backed by the resistance leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, if loss of life and suspicion of Interfet among East Timorese is to be avoided.

United Nations – Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday proposed a United Nations transitional authority for East Timor that would oversee all aspects of civilian life and include some 10,000 peacekeepers and police.

Tom Allard – The Indonesian Foreign Minister told his Australian counterpart, Mr Downer, as early as February that Indonesia was arming pro-integration groups.

According to an article in the Bulletin magazine, the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Mr Ali Alatas, told Mr Downer arming of the groups was "legitimate".

Slobodan Lekic, Dili – Stung by criticism of alleged bias, the commander of the international peacekeeping force in East Timor demanded today that pro-independence rebels hand in their weapons.

Balibo – An escapee from the refugee camps in West Timor said on Sunday that pro-Indonesian militias were hunting down East Timorese men there and killing them.

Associated Press, Waimori – The international peacekeeping force is being too cautious in dealing with the remnants of the militias which ravaged East Timor, the commander of the pro-independence guerillas said yesterday.

Dili – The bodies of 13 people, many of them showing traces of violence, have been found in a mass grave near Dili, a spokesman for the United Nations said on Saturday.

Dafna Linzer, Kupang, – In the ramshackle Tuapukan camp, home to 10,000 refugees from East Timor's chaos, Indonesia's red-and-white flag flies proudly above unfinished roofs of dried palm fronds and straw.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Australian soldiers have taken control of two towns in militia heartland along East Timor's volatile border with Indonesian West Timor, in their biggest operation since landing in the territory 12 days ago.

Agencies in Dili, Los Palos and Jakarta – British Gurkha soldiers yesterday arrested two members of a group of East Timorese militiamen who were holding more than 4,000 people in the eastern port of Com, military sources said.

The militiamen appeared to be preparing to move the 4,000 people out of the territory, the sources said.

Waimori – Pro-independence guerillas said yesterday they had seized control of most of the eastern part of East Timor after clashes with retreating militia and Indonesian soldiers.

Mark Dodd, Dili – When paramilitary toughs supported by Indonesia's discredited military force in East Timor finally set down their cans of petrol and matches, hundreds of innocent people had been killed, tens of thousands made homeless and whole towns and villages razed.

The multinational force in East Timor must rapidly expand to start building peace and security in the territory, East Timorese leaders Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos Horta told correspondents at a press conference, sponsored by Portugal, at Headquarters this afternoon.

Dili – The mutilated and charred remains of at least nine people were discovered in a burnt-out pickup truck on the outskirts of Dili Wednesday, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Craig Skehan, Jakarta – East Timorese independence supporters say they are being terrorised in Jakarta and elsewhere by militiamen with shadowy political connections.

Jakarta – The commander of the East Timorese militia has ordered his men to halt their campaign of terror, and apologize to their victims, the state Antara news agency said Tuesday.

East Timorese refugees in Indonesia, including the resort island of Bali, are being threatened with death by soldiers and militiamen, but plans for a large-scale evacuation are being delayed by the reluctance of foreign governments to accept large numbers of refugees.

Lisbon – Nine church workers including two nuns and a priest have been shot dead by Indonesian troops in the eastern part of East Timor, Bishop Basilio do Nascimento told Portuguese television on Monday.

The Bishop of Baucau said the group, all of whom worked for the Baucau diocese, were gunned down on Saturday and their bodies dumped in a river.

Mark Dodd, Dili – A vast cache of documentary and forensic evidence linking Jakarta's involvement to hardline pro-Indonesian militias accused of horrendous human rights abuses continues to lie unsecured in Dili one week after the arrival of Australian-led peacekeepers.

Keith B. Richburg, Kupang – They fled here in abject retreat, packed onto trucks scrawled with the names of their militia gangs and bringing with them their assault rifles, machetes and dreams of revenge.

Philippe Naughton, Dili – UN forces tightened their grip on Dili on Saturday and began venturing into East Timor's interior to secure routes for desperately needed aid.

Michael Zielenziger, Dili – His eyes are rheumy and his legs are weak, but for a man in his 80s, Manuel Francisco Gusmao looks fairly healthy – considering the father of resistance leader Xanana Gusmao was reported on September 7 to have been killed by pro-Jakarta militia.

Louise Williams, Darwin – Several days before he was killed in East Timor, the Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes was discussing his concerns over the political manipulations behind the public face of the Indonesian Government and military, and the violence and death that power struggle would wreak.

Stephanie Nebehay, Geneva – Asian and Western states failed to agree yesterday on whether to launch a UN inquiry into killings in East Timor, and a UN Commission on Human Rights special session on the issue was due to resume on Monday.

Nature has taken over the garden of Manuel Carrascalao's house in Dili. Tall weeds grow between paving stones and flies buzz in the air. As you approach the well at the back of the garden, the soft hum of millions of maggots becomes audible.

Dili – Multinational troops clamped down on East Timor's militia with a raid and a high-profile arrest Friday and issued warnings against Indonesian soldiers wreaking havoc as they retreat.

The soldiers have burned their barracks behind them and let out volleys of automatic gunfire in defiant parting gestures as they are shipped out of the territory.

Jakarta – Journalist Sander Thoenes, found dead in East Timor yesterday, recently exposed a US$250-million scandal at a company controlled by the brother of Lt-General Prabowo Subianto, the former commander of Indonesia's elite special forces or Kopassus.