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.
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.
Australian government documents from 1978 show how concerned Canberra was at the fall of Australia's standing in Southeast Asia.
Presenter: Girish Sawlani
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.
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
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.
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]
Lindsay Murdoch – Many complaints against Australian soldiers in East Timor remain unresolved because there is no formal means to deal with them, Australian MPs have been told.
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.
Havana – Timor-Leste carried out its second National Literacy Teaching Graduation, a campaign developed with the Cuban program Yes I Can.
Emma Macdonald – East Timor might be the newest sovereign state in the world, but for PhD graduate Nuno Oliveira the tiny country's ancient history is its most compelling feature.
Jakarta – Indonesia's former foreign minister Ali Alatas, who died in Singapore on Thursday, was a widely respected figure in the region tipped at one stage to be a possible United Nations secretary-general.
Dili – The Secretary General of Fretilin and former Prime Minister of East Timor, Mari Alkatiri, said today in Dili that there are "attacks" against Portuguese as official language in Timor-Leste.
A key principle of both good memorialisation and reconciliation is that the truth be honestly acknowledged in plain language. Memorialisation that seeks to enhance by euphemism or to evade compromises both the lessons of history and the building of understanding and healthy relationships. Such memorials obfuscate rather than enlighten.
Rory Callinan – East Timor is struggling to repair its police force, but individual dedication can't make up for a lack of equipment and training.
Jakarta – Unanswered questions about East Timor's break for independence in 1999 were brought to the forefront with the Thursday launch of East Timor, One Final Minute – a journalist's memoirs of his experience reporting on the debacle.
Jerome Rivet, Dili – From his terrifying footage of the 1991 massacre at Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery, British journalist and filmmaker Max Stahl has tracked every step of East Timor's transition to independence.
Matt Crook, Dili – A US$390 million power project tendered to Chinese investors was to be the defining action of the Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) coalition government, with the infrastructure seen as crucial for improving livelihoods and attracting foreign investment to this impoverished island nation.
Eleanor Hall: In their country's quarter of a century long struggle for independence, around 10,000 East Timorese people were taken as political prisoners by Indonesia.
Dili – More than 100,000 people fled their homes in 2006 for welfare centres and relatives' homes when violence erupted following splits within the police and military.
Lindsay Murdoch and Scott Rochfort – East Timor will today unveil its first national airline, Timor Air, with plans to operate flights to Australia and Indonesia.
Havana – East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, today highlighted Cuba's medical collaboration with his country, which has nearly one million inhabitants.
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – A high-stakes battle taking place between East Timor and Woodside Petroleum over the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field is set to escalate after a US company's survey of 45,000 square kilometres of the Timor Sea.
Paul Daley – There has been a lot of disagreement recently about just who said what to whom in serious policy and political discussions over the course of the last government.