A decade after a massacre intended to blunt East Timor's demands for independence, Lindsay Murdoch finds that the appetite for justice continues unabated.
We confronted the mass murderer as his men hosed blood from his balcony; Leoneto Martins angrily denied the massacre in the East Timorese town where he was Indonesia's appointed mayor.
Dili – The tiny impoverished nation of East Timor will need several more years of international assistance to ensure stability and tackle poverty, the head of the United Nations mission here said Friday.
A group of Australian forensic scientists may have solved one of East Timor's greatest mysteries. A team from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine has found the remains of 16 people in graves near the country's capital, Dili.
Dili – International donors to East Timor kicked off a three-day meeting Thursday to discuss how to lock in security gains and promote development in the young nation, one of the world's poorest.
A decade on, East Timor is still linked to Indonesia
Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Jose Ramos-Horta has intervened to delay a controversial $400 million deal to buy three highly polluting second-hand power stations for East Timor.
The East Timorese President told Parliament yesterday that serious concerns about the plants – bought from China – needed to be tackled.
Dili – A call for more lenient abortion legislation in this predominantly Catholic country is renewing friction between the Church and pro-abortion activists.
A working group convened by Fokupers ("Communication Forum for Women from the East"), a local NGO supported by others such as the Alola Foundation, has been pushing for a softening of abortion laws.
Stephanie March – East Timor's state secretary for defence, Julio Tomas Pinto, wants to send more of his troops to Australia for training.
Corinne Podger – Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has told Radio Australia that Australian troops will stay as long as East Timor says it needs them.
By Murray McLaughlin
Kerry O'Brien, Presenter: Here is a story about East Timor, where a newspaperman who was jailed for his resistance activity during the time of Indonesia's occupation is facing the prospect of being put back behind bars if he's found guilty of a charge of criminal defamation.
Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Authorities in Dili have charged 28 people, including Timorese-born Australian Angelita Pires, over last year's attacks on East Timor's top two political leaders.
Prosecutors say they will ask a Dili court to jail 42-year-old Pires for three years.
Paul Toohey – Angelita Pires has been accused of being an indirect author of last year's shooting of East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta and has been charged with 19 counts of attempted homicide.
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved East Timor's request to keep its peace keeping force there for another year.
The UN says peace and security have improved since the assassination attempt on President Jose Ramos Horta by rebel forces a year ago but the situation remains fragile.
The UN Security Council decided unanimously on Thursday to keep its peacekeeping mission in East Timor for another 12 months, noting that the political and security situation there remains fragile.
Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta appeared before the council last week to urge continued UN assistance to the tiny southeast Asian island nation.
United Nations – Oil-rich East Timor can maintain double-digit economic growth in 2009 because falling prices for commodities should reduce spending on imports, East Timor's president told the UN Security Council Thursday.
On February 19, 2009 the UN Security Council will review the UN Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) prior to a decision on its renewal. Representatives of 60 organizations signed the letter below urging the Security Council to take concrete action to ensure justice and accountability for crimes committed during the Indonesian occupation. - IFET
One year after the near-fatal shooting of East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta, the country's foreign minister has admitted it still needs help.
He made the comments during discussions with his counterparts from Australia and Portugal, who also acknowledged that more needed to be done.
Nelson da Cruz – A year after rebel attacks left East Timor's president fighting for his life, the nation is on a "knife-edge" amid threats to stability from grinding poverty and a culture of impunity, analysts say.
Dili/Brussels – A year after Timor-Leste's president Jose Ramos-Horta was shot, security is markedly improved but at the cost of an army that is unreformed and increasingly unaccountable.
Sunanda Creagh, Jakarta – Security in oil-rich East Timor has greatly improved in the year since an attack on President Jose Ramos-Horta, but significant reform is needed to create long-term stability, a think tank said on Monday.
East Timor, which was invaded by Indonesia in 1975, has suffered from outbursts of violence and unrest since gaining full independence in 2002.
Tara Ravens – Women in East Timor are forced into potentially fatal abortions because they cannot legally terminate a pregnancy even for medical reasons, according to a Darwin researcher.
Restrictive laws in the mainly Catholic country mean women cannot request elective abortion for any reason, including to preserve their health or save their lives.
Dili – A rights group Monday urged East Timor to drop criminal charges against a weekly newspaper and its editor for alleged defamation of the justice minister.
The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today called on Timor-Leste's (East Timor) prosecutor-general to drop criminal defamation charges against the local weekly Tempo Semanal and its editor, Jose Belo.
Joshua Frank – In wee morning hours on Friday, January 23, a US spy plane killed at least 15 in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border. It was Barack Obama's first blood and the US's first violation of Pakistan's sovereignty under the new dministration. The attack was an early sign that the newly minted president may not be overhauling the War on Terror this week, or even next.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned at the status of the free media in Timor Leste as a local newspaper editor faces a possible prison sentence on charges of criminal defamation.
Mark Dodd – East Timor's Gusmao Government yesterday denied claims by the Fretilin opposition that several million dollars' worth of unaccounted expenditure involved corruption.
[The following is an English translation of a statement issued by an ad-hoc coalition of Timor-Leste NGOs at a Dili press conference on 19 January 2009. The Tetum original and a photo, are available at http://www.laohamutuk.org/War/09PalestineStmt.htm.]
Manila – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said here Thursday he opposes putting Indonesian soldiers on trial for human rights abuses carried out during the fight for independence.
Mark Dodd – An urgent search is under way in East Timor for $13.3 million that was allocated to various government ministries but is unaccounted for, amid growing corruption concerns.
News of the missing millions is a severe embarrassment to the Gusmao Government, which is heavily dependent on aid from the UN and foreign donors, of which Australia is one of its biggest.
A report has found women in East Timor are 300 times more likely to die during childbirth than women in developed countries.
The UNICEF report shows that an East Timorese mother has a one in 35 chance of dying during childbirth. In neighbouring Australia the figure is one in more than 13,000.
Bangkok – East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta said Sunday he recently shook hands with the rebellious soldier who shot him last year, but had not yet named him to prosecutors.
Horta, who was in Bangkok for a peace seminar, told an audience that on December 26 he shook hands with the man who shot him on February 11, leaving him on the verge of death.
Bangkok – The US and European Union should review their policy of imposing economic sanctions on Myanmar as the country's pariah military regime is key to the future stability of any elected government, East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said Sunday.
Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The central government handed over 2,000 houses Thursday to former East Timorese refugees opting to reside in East Nusa Tenggara.
Siti Rahil, Dili – Foreign investors are beginning to trickle into impoverished East Timor as it struggles to achieve stability and develop its fledgling economy six years after its violent break from Indonesia.
Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Angelita Pires, the former lover of slain East Timorese rebel leader Alfredo Reinado, says authorities in Dili are depriving her of her freedom because her case is too political.
Australian government documents from 1978 show how concerned Canberra was at the fall of Australia's standing in Southeast Asia.
Presenter: Girish Sawlani
Leo Shanahan – The government of Malcolm Fraser knew it was in breach of international law when it recognised Indonesia's takeover of East Timor – but bowed to pressure from the Suharto regime and oil companies.
Phillip Hudson – The Fraser government's controversial decision formally to recognise Jakarta's takeover of East Timor was based on the belief that the occupation was "irreversible" and made because influential Indonesians were losing patience with Australia's stand against it.
Mark Dodd – East Timor has lashed out at a UN report that labels the country's police and judicial systems as dysfunctional.
A statement released by the Government in Dili at the weekend questioned the authenticity of the report and accused The Australian of waging a "campaign of disinformation" against Dili.
Obama's new intelligence chief ran interference for Indonesia's butchers
Mark Dodd – Australia is poised to take a bigger role in the training of East Timor's police force, described in a UN report as beset with "tremendous institutional gaps", weakly managed and lacking a budget.
Dili – East Timor's president and the United Nations played down reports Wednesday that the tiny Asian nation was staggering under the weight of social and economic problems and on the brink of chaotic unrest.
A respected newspaper in East Timor has been charged with defamation over a series of stories it published accusing the country's Justice Minister of corruption, collusion and nepotism. The newspaper's director, Jose Belo, says he's prepared to go to jail to defend his publication.
Presenter: Stephanie March
Kuala Lumpur – Timor Leste, which witnessed assassination attempts against its president and prime minister February this year, is now making good progress in the development of the country, said its Vice-Prime Minister Jose Luiz Guterres.
East Timor risks a repeat of the anarchy that gripped the country in 2006, as it has a dysfunctional police force, a chaotic justice system, a divided political leadership grappling with "dismal" social problems and an economy facing a "precipitous fall" in oil revenue.
[Timor Timur, Menit Terakhir – Catatan Seorang Wartawan (East Timor, The Last Minute – A Journalist's Notebook). C.M. Rien Koentari, Mizan Pustaka, 2008. 438 pages]
Mark Dodd – An Australian businessman in East Timor says he has received death threats after he questioned an allegedly corrupt $3.1 million government fuel contract.