Jessica Mahar, West Timor – All Charles Meluk wants is a better future for refugees in West Timor. The 22-year-old East Timorese man has been living in the Noelbaki refugee camp since 1999, when more than 286,000 of his countrymen fled across the border away from the chaos after the vote for independence.

Judicial authorities in East Timor are investigating more than 40 allegations that armed forces have used violence, intimidation, and death threats against civilians.

A United Nations report documents a litany of human rights abuses by local police and army officers in the course of their work.

Ben Doherty and Sarah Smiles – A new guest worker scheme, this one to bring East Timorese workers to the labour-starved Kimberley region of Western Australia, appears likely to be announced as soon as next week.

Paul Toohey – A secret recording of the last meeting between East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta and rebel leader Alfredo Reinado reveals that the two men had run out of ways to end a stalemate that had held the country moribund for almost two years.

Complaints of human rights abuses by East Timor's fledgling national police have shown a "notable increase" over the past year, the United Nations says.

The UN report said East Timor was at a crossroads in terms of rights, with progress since independence from Indonesia in 2002 tempered by abuses by the security forces and judicial shortcomings.

Lucy Williamson, Jakarta – The UN in East Timor has rejected claims by the country's president that it was slow to act in the aftermath of his shooting earlier this year.

President Ramos-Horta said that international forces had not moved quickly enough to give him medical aid, and to arrest the perpetrators. But in a confidential report the UN says its response was swift.

As East Timor's defence force celebrates it's 33rd anniversary, analysts say it will take time to build the force's strength.

Radio Australia's Stephanie March reports that the transition from resistance fighters to professional soldiers has not been easy.

Jo Chandler – Two weeks ago, the families of "disappeared" victims of the 1991 Santa Cruz Cemetery massacre gathered at a site west of the East Timor capital, Dili, and held a ceremony calling for spirits of their dead to rise out of the earth.

Paul Toohey - East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta has delivered a furious tirade against The Australian, accusing it of inventing an article.

The story in The Australian said rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado was shot dead at almost point-blank range inside his compound on February 11.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – Evidence has emerged that challenges the belief that East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta was shot by a member of rebel leader Alfredo Reinado's gang.

Investigators now believe the shooter was wearing a different uniform from that of Reinado's men – a uniform gang members used to wear, The Age has learnt.

Stephen de Tarczynski, Melbourne – East Timor's most prominent independence leaders – currently holders of the young nation's two highest political offices – may now be the main obstacles to obtaining justice for victims of the 1999 referendum-related violence.

Paul Toohey – Inside the Hotel Becora, as they call Dili's prison, some of the 22 men who face spending the rest of their lives behind bars for the attempted murders of East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao are starting to talk.

East Timor's main opposition party, Fretilin, is calling for an independent international investigation into the assassination attempt on the country's leadership in February.

Paul Toohey – Questions have been raised as to whether rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was lured down from the mountains of East Timor to be executed after it emerged he was shot dead at almost point-blank range inside the home of President Jose Ramos Horta.

Stephanie March, Dili – Six months ago Victor Alvez's voice rang out through radios and televisions, appealing for peace and calm from the people of East Timor.

Tito Belo, Dili – The United Nations urged on Thursday East Timor not to let those responsible for bloodshed surrounding Dili's 1999 independence vote from Indonesia off the hook, pledging to provide support to prosecute perpetrators.

Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – An offer by a notorious Jakarta gangster to develop the site of a refugee camp in Dili has been accepted by the East Timor Government.

Canberra – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta has defended his decision to pardon a notorious Timorese militia leader, saying it was unfair to keep him in prison while Indonesians responsible for violence during his country's transition to independence remain free.

Jeff Kingston – On July 15 in Bali the leaders of Indonesia and East Timor met and received the final report of the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) and issued a joint statement accepting the findings and recommendations.

Filmmakers have recreated scenes of chaos in the heart of East Timor's sleepy capital, blocking streets and sending up plumes of smoke for Balibo – an Australian movie about Indonesia's bloody 1975 invasion.

Between 60 and 70 locals took part and 30 East Timorese soldiers dressed as Indonesian troops holding fake rifles for the shoot, United Nations (UN) police say.

[Unfinished Nation: Indonesia before and after Suharto. By Max Lane. Verso 2008 312 pages. RRP (Australia) $49.95. Reviewed by Nick Everett.]

Dili – Since it was built in 1983, residents of Dili have watched the retaining wall of the Pantai Kelapa road along Timor-Leste's coastline slowly erode.

Stephanie March, Dili – East Timor's inaugural Journalist of the Year awards last week provided much-needed encouragement for professionals facing an uncertain future, as authorities draft a press law that could make defamation a criminal offence.

Matt Chambers – Woodside Petroleum has ruled out a $15 billion East Timor liquefied natural gas export plant to process output from its Greater Sunrise fields.

East Timor's natural resource secretary of state said the decision would be a "major problem" for the Government.

Katie Chalk – Every morning, when Madalena opens her front door, she is faced with what has to be one of the most beautiful views on earth. High in the mountain ranges of Lequidoe, East Timor, she watches the sun spill over countless unspoilt peaks, with distant mists dissolving into a sky of impossible blue.

Dili – The report of the Commission for Truth and Friendship on who was behind the violence surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999 ignores justice, a Catholic Church official says.

Ben Doherty – There is food now, for the markets are open, and the men have found work on local farms.

But Dominges Enriques has lived too many – nine – of her 34 years at Noelbaki to believe it will last. Her family has no land of its own to work, and without it she must buy her food. Soon it will be expensive once more. She knows her children will go hungry again.

Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless

- TS Eliot, The Hollow Men

Australian Paul Stewart was just 15 when Indonesian soldiers murdered his cameraman brother in East Timor.

More than 30 years later, he hopes a new film about the Balibo Five killings will be as much about the suffering of East Timorese during Indonesia's 1975 invasion as it is about the newsmen who died.

Dawn Gibson – As the mini-bus pulls to a stop, a swarm of excited children press their faces against the windows, all big brown eyes and grins.

Last week saw the much-anticipated release of the Truth and Friendship Commission (CTF) final report. The Commission was established by the governments of Indonesia and East Timor. It sought to establish the truth about violence that surrounded East Timor's independence vote.

When the Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) was set up in August 2005 by the governments of Timor-Leste and Indonesia to 'establish the conclusive truth regarding the events prior to and immediately after the Popular Consultation in 1999', there was scepticism about what it would achieve.

Kornelius Purba and Tony Hotland, Singapore – US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday expressed her appreciation over the findings of an joint government investigation into human rights abuses in the former East Timor.

HS Dillon, Jakarta – The report of the joint Commission for Truth and Friendship, recently presented to the two heads of state who established the body, could certainly be lauded for ending a culture of denial by affirming that gross violations of human rights preceding and immediately after the East Timor referendum did indeed take place.

Mike Steketee, National Affairs Editor – Downer's achievements as our longest serving foreign minister aren't all he claims and must be balanced against some calamitous mistakes

Savouring his record as Australia's longest serving foreign minister, Alexander Downer offers as his greatest achievement the creation of a free and independent East Timor.

Warren Reed – By any measure, our intelligence agencies are the eyes and ears of the nation. But in the lead-up to the violence and killings of 1999 in East Timor it seemed that Canberra's political masters were like two of the wise monkeys, seeing nothing and hearing nothing. The third monkey, however, had a lot to say, the nature of which bore little resemblance to the truth.

Aboeprijadi Santoso, Jakarta – The final report of the Indonesia-Timor Leste Truth and Friendship Commission (CTF), titled Per Memoriam ad Spem (Through memory toward hope) is a political document of compromise rather than a complete and verified factual report on what, when and why violence occurred in connection with the August 1999 popular consultation in East Timor.

Eko Waluyo, Sydney – At the handover of a report by the joint Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) in Bali, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accepted the report and expressed deep regret for the role the Indonesian military played in systematic human rights abuses in East Timor in 1999.

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – Although the government has taken the blame for the East Timor violence in 1999, there remains an opportunity for individuals to seek redress through national or international courts, the National Commission on Human Rights says.

When the Commission of Truth and Friendship was set up in August 2005 by the governments of Timor-Leste and Indonesia to "establish the conclusive truth regarding the events prior to and immediately after the Popular Consultation in 1999", there was scepticism about what it would achieve.

A recent report into the violence surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999 places the blame for crimes against humanity squarely at Indonesia's feet.

Usman Hamid, Jakarta – On July 15, Indonesia and Timor Leste officially accepted a report produced by the joint Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF). The report concludes crimes against humanity took place, with militia groups, the military, the police and the civilian government bearing institutional responsibility.

Hamish McDonald – Hilario Madeira was the sort of priest who makes you understand how the balance of the global Catholic congregation is shifting to the developing world, away from a jaded Europe.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) on Thursday admitted partial responsibility for gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999, saying it would abide by any government decisions to follow up on a joint truth commission report.

Ben Doherty, Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, who plans to contest next year's election, has supported the establishment of a war crimes tribunal to try Indonesian military figures accused of inciting violence during East Timor's independence vote in 1999. Mr Wahid said further formal investigation of alleged human rights violations was needed urgently.

Paul Toohey – There was never any question that it would tread softly. After all, it was called the Commission for Truth and Friendship, not the commission for truth. It was set up by the leaders of East Timor and Indonesia not merely to rake over the horrors of 1999 but most of all to find a way forward for two neighbours with a history of bad blood.

This Report presents the results of the two and a half years of work by the world's first bilateral Truth and Friendship Commission. It is comprised of nine chapters.

I. Mandate and implementation

Bruce Haigh – The release of a joint Indonesian-East Timor report on Tuesday by the Commission for Truth and Friendship into the causes of the crimes against humanity in the run-up to East Timorese independence in 1999, raises the issue of the culpability of Australia in the crimes committed by Indonesia's military, the Tentara Nasional Indonesia or TNI, and its militia surrogates.

Olivia Rondonuwu, Nusa Dua – East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao is satisfied with Indonesia's expression of regret over violence surrounding Dili's 1999 independence vote and says it is now time to move on.

Abdul Khalik, Nusa Dua, Bali – A joint truth commission report has found several high-ranking military officers supported pro-Jakarta militia groups that perpetrated gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999.