Famega Syafira/Wikipedia, Jakarta – Fretilin demanded a re-election in East Timor, the party Secretary General Mari Alkatiri said on Thursday when meeting the chairman of Muhammadiyah, Din Syamsuddin in Jakarta.

Alkatiri said the current East Timor government is unlegitimate and do not have a strong constitutional ground, "we want a re-election" Alkatiri stated.

Tensions are brewing in East Timor's national police force as the government works to weed out corruption and rehabilitate the force.

The administration in Dili hopes it can eventually farewell the 15-hundred UN police, who've taken responsibility for internal security for the past two years. But police reform may not be going as smoothly as the government would want.

Kurniasih Budi/Ninin Damayanti, Jakarta – Former East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri visited President Yudhoyono during the Idul Fitri gathering at the presidential palace on Wednesday, after attending the Idul Fitri prayer at the Istiqlal Mosque.

Worrying signs are emerging of tensions within East Timor's police force, similar to the rift among armed forces that sparked deadly violence in 2006.

Dili – Justice in East Timor has traditionally been measured out in water buffaloes. A goat theft costs one buffalo and a rape of a woman is worth two, although it varies from village to village.

Connie Levett – Guy Campos, the East Timorese man accused of high-level collaboration with the Indonesian military involving kidnapping and torture of East Timorese citizens during Indonesia's occupation, was convicted of "torture leading to death" of an 11-year-old boy, Francisco Ximenes, in 1979, according to newly uncovered East Timorese court documents.

Dili – The United Nations aims to complete investigating nearly 400 cases related to the bloodshed surrounding East Timor's 1999 independence vote from Indonesia, the chief UN investigator said on Friday.

Dili – As a girl, Laura Pina was not expected to slave in the kitchen simply by virtue of her gender. Then she got married.

For many in East Timor, access to the justice system is almost impossible. Institutions are weak and the remoteness of many villages means it can take days to reach the nearest police station. Now, one government official is travelling around East Timor promoting the use of traditional justice for all crimes, including rape.

Presenter: Stephanie March

Anthony Deutsch, Jakarta – East Timor is drawing up plans for a deep sea pipeline and petrochemicals plant to tap an estimated $90 billion in disputed underwater oil and gas, company and government officials said, in a rare opportunity for one of Asia's poorest and smallest countries to boost its economy.

Lucy Williamson – One day, perhaps, the place where Isabel sits will be a five-star hotel, its private villas looking on the beach, its grand entrance frowning down on the western corner of Dili's beach road.

Dili – It's no secret that charity clothes cast off from rich countries end up on the backs of some of the poorest people on earth.

Dili – Efforts to return the remaining internally displaced people (IDPs) to their homes are being hampered by squatters.

Some 100,000 people were displaced throughout Timor-Leste in 2006 after an implosion of the national police and defence forces and fighting between eastern and western factions of the country over the distribution of power and economic benefits.

Dili – National police in East Timor, one of the poorest countries in Asia, are being criticized for a crackdown on snack vendors working a lucrative part of the capital, Dili.

No laws ban the sales across from the Palacio do Governo, or Government Palace, and the police are targeting poor people just trying to make ends meet, politicians and vendors complained.

The remains of five people have been uncovered from eroded soil on the boundary of Dili's international airport. Human rights campaigners claimed the people had been murdered by the Indonesian military, the ABC reported last night.

Photographs obtained by the broadcaster showed investigations at the site had uncovered the remains of at least five people.

Contents

The Federal Defence Minister has told East Timor's Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, that Australia will not pull its 750 troops out of East Timor until it is certain the current level of stability will continue.

Joel Fitzgibbon gave the guarantee during a brief visit to East Timor.

A new report by the World Bank shows it's no easier to run a business in East Timor now than it was a year ago, despite the government's efforts. The survey shows small businesses have trouble getting lines of credit and foreign investors still face many hurdles.

Presenter: Stephanie March

Juan Diego Nusa Penalver, Havana – Never were two nations as united as Cuba and Timor Leste through links of cooperation and solidarity at such difficult moments in history; two nations so distant, geographically speaking, but both determined to face the future.

Dili – East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta on Thursday rejected reports that rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was executed rather than killed in a gunbattle with police.

Connie Levett – Jose Belo identified the face in the picture as Guy Campos, claiming the East Timorese man was present when he was interrogated and tortured by the Indonesian Special Forces on the night of January 9, 1995.

Matt Crook and Domingos Fernandes, Dili – Disgruntled Timorese living in one of Dili's camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) were told on Tuesday that the verification process that will allow many of them to return home will begin on Wednesday, although thousands more remain in IDP camps around the district.

Dili – Slain East Timor rebel leader Alfredo Reinado had an Indonesian citizenship card in his pocket when he was shot on February 11 during an attack on the president, media reports said Wednesday.

John Kidman – Senior military personnel knew Australian troops were responsible for introducing cane toads to East Timor two years ago, it has been alleged.

Maliana, East Timor – A few years ago Domingos Pereira and his wife did something dangerous. They quit the East Timorese Catholic Church.

[Text from scanned pages via optical character recognition (OCR). Full document via: http://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/UNMIT_investigation_into_the_shooting_of_East_Timor_President_Ramos_Horta_2008. We recommend checking original before quoting.

Lucy Williamson, Jakarta – East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta has accused members of the UN Security Council of "extraordinary hypocrisy".

He said small, post-conflict countries like his could not pursue justice blindly, as some UN states insist. Dr Ramos Horta and Indonesian leaders say their joint Truth and Friendship Commission went far enough.

Sydney – The Australian military may have deployed more than just soldiers in East Timor – reports said Tuesday it could also have inadvertently introduced the pesky cane toad to the fledgling nation.

Dili – Australia must help East Timor deal with an exploding cane toad population, President Jose Ramos Horta says.

Australian troops have been accused of introducing the cane toad into East Timor when they arrived in 1999 to stop the violence triggered by a vote for independence from Indonesia.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Red tape delayed Australian soldiers pursuing rebels involved in the February 11 attacks on East Timor's two most senior political leaders, a confidential UN investigation has found.

Senator Bob Brown made the call after claims that Australia's INTERFET troops introduced the pest to East Timor in 1999.

The Australian Defence Force says vehicles and equipment from a range of organisations have been transported from Australian ports to East Timor, but it would be difficult to pinpoint the source of any introduced species.

Mark Colvin: The wrong security force may be getting the blame for introducing cane toads into East Timor.

This week the Australian-led INTERFET force was accused of carrying hitch-hiking cane toads on equipment and trucks from Australia to Timor in 1999.

In East Timor a group claiming to represent 200 former resistance fighters is demanding financial recognition for its contribution to the country's independence struggle. They say they shouldn't have to wait until next year for government action.

Reports are coming in from all around East Timor that the country's poorest people are missing out on a government rice subsidy aimed at relieving the pressure of the global food crisis.

The government policy is to import rice and sell it for $16 per 32kg bag, regardless of the market price, but much of that rice has not been reaching those who live in rural areas.

Australia's military may be responsible for introducing into East Timor the nation's worst pest – the cane toad.

The resilient and toxic toads, which have wreaked havoc across Australia, are believed to have hitched a ride on military vehicles.

Dili – The East Timor government on Monday began emptying the largest displacement camp left in the capital in the first step in helping 2,000 displaced people return home. The government also launched a new dialogue team to help the displaced sort out their differences with their former neighbors in the strife-torn country, which became independent in 2002.

Dili – Rosalina Soares has no idea who cut off her fingers. She also has machete scars across her upper back and neck. The middle-aged mother of two lost everything. Her home was destroyed – smashed and looted – and her body mutilated, but she has no idea why.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – East Timor's top prosecutor, Longuinhos Monteiro, is flying to Canberra to be briefed on the investigation into the February 11 dawn attacks in Dili.

East Timor's prime minister has signalled a gradual reduction in the number of international troops needed in his country. Xanana Gusmao said depending on the circumstances, troops could begin a gradual withdraw from next year. But the leaders of the international military and UN police have warned that timetable is premature.

Presenter: Stephanie March

Simon Roughneen, Dili – East Timor's post-independence politics have confounded outside observers, and for the most part the Timorese themselves.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary
I. Introduction
II. The Security Sector

[Review essay by Dr Clinton Fernandes, UNSW@ADFA The UN in East Timor: Building Timor Leste, a Fragile State, by Dr Juan Federer, Charles Darwin University Press, 2004.]

East Timor's six month gun amnesty has ended. The opposition is describing it as pointless, saying the government should be trying to recover the weapons taken from police during the 2006 crisis. But the government is now focusing on getting its new gun law through parliament.

Presenter: Stephanie March

For the part six weeks, a group of forensic anthropologists from Australia and Argentina have been in East Timor searching for a mass grave allegedly used to bury hundreds of East Timorese killed by Indonesian troops in 1991. The process has unearthed the pain and frustration for victims' families who are desperate to lay their loved ones to rest once and for all.

Ben Doherty and Daniel Flitton – Australia's 750-strong troop commitment to East Timor could be over by the end of next year, as security in the nation steadily improves, the East Timorese Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, said yesterday.

Havana – A farewell ceremony for a group of six Cuban healthcare service providers in East Timor was held at that country's Health Ministry (MINSA).

Hamish McDonald – Xanana Gusmao has had many difficult roles in his 62 years: as rural teacher, guerilla leader, political prisoner, symbolic president of a raw and traumatised new nation.

Chris McCall, Sydney – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao says he believes his country has turned the corner, and divisions in the military that triggered several years of civil unrest should not recur.

Marianne Kearney, Dili – Plans to build a massive new power station in East Timor have stirred debate over the use of the tiny and impoverished country's oil profits amid fears the government is squandering its hard-won oil and gas wealth.

Saul Salavador – Thousands of Internally displaced refugees in Timor Leste are finally going home.

For the last two years, they have been living in makeshift tent camps. Their homes were destroyed when the tiny nation descended into communal violence sparked by divisions in the military and police.