Dili – The UN referendum oversight mission in East Timor has received "all sorts of threats" of hostile actions, a spokesman said Thursday. So far, no attacks have been carried out against the week-old outpost.

Most of the threats are coming from militias battling to keep the province part of Indonesia.

Mark Dodd, Dili – Eurico Guterres, one of East Timor's most hardline pro-Jakarta militia leaders, today strongly defended a reorganisation of his force into what he said was a legal civil defence unit.

Dili – East Timorese voted in a steady stream Monday in this troubled Indonesian territory, but interest in the elections was low, taking a back seat to a UN-sponsored ballot on self-determination in August.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The pro-Jakarta government in East Timor has ordered between 10 and 20 per cent of its budget to be set aside for propaganda and training to promote the integration cause in the ballot on self-determination – a move that breaches United Nations-brokered accords signed by Indonesia.

Lisbon – Reported reprisals against East Timorese for an attack by resistance fighters on Indonesian troops threaten upcoming talks on the future of the territory, resistance leader Jose Ramos Horta said Tuesday.

Luciano Alvarez, Dili – For 3 days, Publico accompanied a UN mission on a journey that took them over 500 kms of the disputed territory's terrain: Dili, Baucau, Lospalos, Viqueque and back to Dili."

Dili – The United Nations officially raised its flag in East Timor on Thursday, provoking loud cheers from a crowd of independence supporters and raising hopes of peace in the troubled territory.

"We have waited 24 years for this moment. This is a historic day, and some people say it is the beginning of peace in East Timor," said student Francisco Dionosio Fernandes.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Fresh allegations of killings and kidnappings by pro-Jakarta militia in East Timor emerged yesterday as a diplomatic war of words broke out between Indonesia and the United Nations.

Too many vested interests mean the chances of East Timor separating peacefully from Indonesia are slim, Asia Editor David Jenkins writes.

On a recent Saturday afternoon, President B.J. Habibie sat in his office and talked about East Timor.

John Zubrzycki, Dili – Pro-Indonesian militia were planning a military-style sweep on Dili tonight conducting house-to-house searches to check whether voters had registered for the June 7 general election, church sources revealed yesterday.

Following the ouster of Indonesia's President Suharto last year, the new government agreed to give the people of East Timor – which was illegally seized by Indonesia a quarter-century ago – the chance to vote for independence.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – United Nations officials arriving in East Timor yesterday complained of a hostile reception from pro-Jakarta supporters as fresh violence erupted in the territory's second-largest town, Baucau, where a man was shot dead by Indonesian soldiers as he took part in a religious ceremony.

[In an exclusive interview with The Jakarta Post, the co-winner of the 1996 Noble Peace Prize, Jose Ramos-Horta, reiterates his support for the New York agreement on a United-Nations-supervised ballot.

Hamish Mcdonald – Even before the UN Assistance Mission to East Timor (UNAMET) is fully deployed, diplomats and political leaders of concerned countries are discussing the option of postponing the autonomy-or-independence vote scheduled for August 8.

Mark Dodd, Dili – The United Nations mission in East Timor will remain until the vote on self-determination for the violence-prone province is completed successfully, a senior UN spokesman said yesterday.

"We're here until it's done, even if it is postponed," said Mr David Wimhurst, the spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission to East Timor.

Jose Manuel Tesoro, Dili – While 110 million Indonesians decide the future of their nation, the 850,000 residents of its youngest province await their own fate – in conditions that are far more uncertain, and far deadlier. On May 14, the first permanent members of the new UN Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) arrived in Dili.

Mark Riley, New York – The United Nations proposes sending a team of military advisers to East Timor in the face of continuing violence. The team would join a 280-strong UN police contingent ahead of the planned autonomy vote in August.

Lisbon – Pro-Indonesian militiamen launched a manhunt for an East Timorese resistance activist in the territory's capital, Dili, Monday night, with paramilitary groups surrounding four of the city's neighborhoods.

Cameron Stewart and Don Greenlees – UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been advised the UN-sponsored vote on autonomy for East Timor might not be possible if violence in the territory remains at current levels.

Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta – Indonesia on Friday abruptly changed the date for East Timor's independence vote, a move greeted with astonishment by Portugal and the United Nations, which had settled on a poll for August 8.

Jakarta said the troubled former Portuguese colony would now go to the polls a day earlier, on a Saturday.

Mark Dodd, East Timor – United Nations investigators have seen Indonesian Army personnel training loyalist civilian militia in this East Timor town, throwing doubt on Jakarta's promise to ensure the neutrality of its military before the territory's independence vote.

Mark Dodd, Atsabe – United Nations investigators believe that their surprise arrival in this highland town on Wednesday may have stalled plans for a second attack by pro-Indonesian militias.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

[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 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.

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

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.

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.

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.