Jakarta – Indonesia's electoral campaign got off to a lacklustre start in the troubled territory of East Timor Wednesday, largely ignored by a population gripped by fractional violence ahead of a UN-monitored ballot on self-determination in August.

Jakarta – Clashes broke out between local army battalion and a special Indonesian force in the East Timor town of Baucau, a rights group said Friday.

Tim Dodd, Dili – Dr Kevin Baker has a simple rule of thumb for determining who is on which side in East Timor's civil strife.

If a man weighs less than 45 kilograms, then he is probably in favour of independence. If he weighs much more, he probably wants the province to stay with Indonesia.

Brian Woodley, Dili – East Timor's main pro-Indonesian group, which claims to run the militias behind a campaign of terror across the province, demanded yesterday the UN-sponsored referendum on August 8 be abandoned.

The call came after Indonesian President B.J. Habibie announced the formation of a team of ministers to oversee the UN-monitored poll in East Timor.

Catholic leaders march on day of peace in East Timorese capital. Residents of East Timor's capital Dili witnessed a rare display of peace today ... as hundreds of Catholic nuns, priests and Nobel Laureate, Bishop Carlos Belo marched through the city.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Threats and attacks by pro-Jakarta militias are preventing aid agencies from sending tonnes of urgently needed rice and other supplies to thousands of villagers outside the East Timor capital.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The guns of the East Timorese armed resistance would remain silent despite desperate attempts to provoke them by pro-Indonesian militias and their Indonesian army allies, a senior pro-independence official said yesterday.

Dili – As a consequence of continuing clashes between pro-independence and pro-integration groups, the Dili-based Suara Timor Timur has again been forced to cease publication.

Canberra – The Australian government will open a consulate-general office in East Timor in order to monitor the changes occurring in the Indonesian province.

AusAID, the government's aid body, will also open an office in Dili, according to an Australian government statement Tuesday.

To the East Timorese people, the members of the CNRT To all those in a position of leadership, in Dili, especially Youth of Loriko Aswain.

Dili – New violence flared between pro-and anti-Indonesia factions in the East Timor capital Sunday, with shots fired and attacks on foreign journalists.

As dusk fell in town, gunfire had left at least one man dead and another wounded, and small fires of tyres and wood were burning in the middle of downtown streets.

Sydney – The Indonesian military is not abiding by its promise to stay neutral in the run up the the August ballot in which 800,000 East Timorese will vote whether to accept limited autonomy or become a free country, Australian officials said Saturday.

Dili – The United Nations' top police officer arrived in troubled East Timor Saturday, saying he had little time to set up crucial security arrangements for an Aug. 8 ballot on the future of the crisis-wracked territory.

Anthony Goodman, United Nations – The UN Security Council unanimously endorsed Friday agreements that will enable the people of East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that Indonesia annexed in 1976, to decide their own future in an Aug. 8 vote.

Dili – Hundreds of East Timorese students in Dili demonstrated peacefully Thursday, for the third day in a row, waving banners and chanting slogans in favor of an independent East Timor.

The early morning rally was the first reaction in the East Timor capital to news that the UN-brokered East Timor plebiscite accord had been signed in New York by Portugal and Indonesia.

For twenty-three years, the people of East Timor have awaited this agreement which acknowledges their right to self-determination.

The agreement signed on May 5th in New York attests to the fact that the immeasurable sacrifices of the East Timorese people throughout this long period of oppression have not been in vain.

[The following is the text of the "Agreement between the Republic of Indonesia and the Portuguese Republic on the question of East Timor" signed on May 5, 1999.]

The Governments of Indonesia and Portugal,

Last Wednesday, 5 May, the autonomy proposal of Indonesia for East Timor was signed in Jakarta and Lissabon. In three months time, the East Timorese will cast their votes in a UN-supervised 'direct ballot' whether to accept or reject that proposal.

New York – The people of East Timor will be asked to to choose between two questions in the territory's August 8 plebiscite.

[FORTILOS received the following information today from Yayasan HAK, Dili, Timor Lorosae.]

New York – The two main East Timor opposition parties, FRETILIN and the UDT (Timorese Democratic Union), want the UN to guarantee that their leaders resident abroad will be allowed to return to the territory before the August 8 plebiscite on autonomy or statehood.

Jakarta – Indonesian Justice Minister Muladi said Monday he believed jailed East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao should be released so he can make a greater contribution to peace efforts in the troubled territory.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Pro-Indonesian paramilitary groups formed and in some cases armed by the Indonesian military are continuing their campaign of violence and intimidation only days away from the signing of a United Nations-brokered agreement for a ballot on self-determination for East Timor.

Jakarta – Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) Marzuki Darusman has said the defiance of East Timor's pro-integration militias against any United Nations (UN) presence in the territory signifies the armed forces (TNI)'s determination not to let East Timor achieve independence.

Jakarta – Police suspect 11 victims found in a mass grave in East Timor were members an anti-independence militia group that has been accused of carrying out attacks and atrocities against civilians, a newspaper reported today.

Jakarta – 150 students who went to Timor ro assist in the reconciliation process were forced to return to Java following threats from Eurico Guterres, head of the Aitarak militia, demanding that all students should adopt a position of neutrality. "If they refuse, we will use "other means" to force them to do so," said Guterres.

In a statement issued on his behalf by his lawyer, Hendardi, chair of the PBHI, Xanana Gusmao, the president of the CNRT said that generally speaking, nothing new had emerged from the meeting between President Habibie and PM John Howard.

Sydney – Reports that a document has been made public by Amnesty International which comes from a group called Red Blood Commando (Komando Darah Merah) saying they will "cleanse" Dili of pro-independence men, women and children.

It says that the document was circulating in Dili and the translation used the words, "Top Secret".

Dili – Violence by militias has risen so sharply ahead of an August 8 vote on autonomy from Indonesia that a UN peacekeeping force is needed in East Timor, human rights groups said on Thursday.

John McBeth, Jakarta – The flyer from the East Timor Pro-Integration Information Centre billed it as an "Invade Dili" rally.

Simon Ingram, Bali – A leading activist for independence in East Timor has fled the territory with members of his family saying he intends to seek asylum in Australia.

Cameron Stewart – The size of the planned UN observer force to East Timor next month may need to be increased because of unstable security in the territory, senior officials say.

UN planners will hold meetings in New York later this week to discuss the size and composition of the world body's presence in East Timor, which is expected to include up to 100 Australians.

Democratisation in Indonesia has forced president Suharto to end his 32 years of rule. International pressure, specifically by donor countries, have forced the Indonesian government to take steps which reflect its commitment to democracy. This concession to international pressure included an opening of democratic space in East Timor.

[The following statement drafted by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor is being circulated for endorsement. To add your name to the statement, please contact ASIET (details below).]

On Monday, 26 April, FOKUPERS received news from a resident of Liquisa that ABRI has threatened people living in the countryside, in places remote from the town of Liquisa, to move into the town. Those who remain behind are warned that they will be killed.

Peter Hartcher – John Howard's emergency summit today with the President of Indonesia is not the high-risk event as advertised - both men want the same thing.

Nusa Dua – Indonesian President B.J. Habibie said on Tuesday he fully accepted a UN-brokered autonomy package for troubled East Timor and that his government would sign it on May 5.

Mark Riley – It was promoted as a historic event, an agreement on self-determination for East Timor after 24 years of hostile occupation and the loss of more than 200,000 lives.

But there was no fanfare, no celebration at the United Nations on Friday. Just trepidation, suspicion and questions – lots of questions.

Dili – At least eight people and possibly as many as 100 have died in attacks by pro-Jakarta militias on pro-independence supporters in East Timor, a local priest told Reuters Friday.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) is seriously concerned about the further acts of violence and the deaths of civilians in Dili, the capital city of East Timor, on Saturday, April 17. This most recent spate of acts of violence and killings occurred after a rally for pro-autonomy sympathisers had been organised by the Dili based Aitarak, led by Eurico Guterres.

Jakarta – The East Timor pro-independence movement on Thursday claimed that the Indonesian military had conducted attacks on bases of rebel forces in two districts, just a day after it committed itself to halt all violence in the troubled territory, a report said.

The decision by the Habibie regime in 1998 to offer "the widest possible autonomy", including a separate electoral system, flag, and so on, was a retreat by the Habibie regime from the position of Suharto who refused any kind of autonomy.

Paul Kelly – Indonesia's President B. J. Habibie yesterday gave his personal word of honour that he was prepared to give East Timor independence.

Dili – Leaders of warring factions in the troubled Indonesian territory of East Timor on Wednesday signed a peace pact witnessed by Indonesia's military chief and East Timor's two bishops.

In the document, signed at the residence of Dili Bishop Carlos Ximenes Felipe Belo, the groups pledged to "stop hatred, intimidation, and terror and try to help create peace."

Human Rights Watch charged that the government of President Habibie could have prevented the violence in East Timor on Saturday by acting earlier to disarm pro-Indonesia militias.

Hamish Mcdonald – Well-placed sources in Jakarta have supplied what could be the jigsaw pieces that make sense of the puzzling Indonesian policy on East Timor in recent months.

David Jenkins – As East Timor descends into a new round of violence and savagery the time has come for searching questions to be asked of President B. J. Habibie and his sometimes unfathomable Defence Minister, General Wiranto.

Things are quiet in Dili. At a government rally in front of the governor's office, Dili Mayor Domingus Soares publicly announced that Eurico Guterres, the head of the Aitarak "death squad" and vice-commander of all Abri-sponsored death squads, will be in charge of security and stability in East Timor.

Jakarta – Indonesian Justice Minister Muladi and jailed East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao on Monday agreed there had been no call for war in the troubled territory against Jakarta.