Dili – The government's attempt to hold on to power is dangerously depleting the country's reserve of rice and could lead to social disorder, claimed an analyst.
Loro Horta said prime minister Xanana Gusmao should immediately create a more effective food distribution system and change the way he is managing the emergency stock of rice.
Arnaldo Musa – East Timorese Foreign Minister Zacarias Albano da Costa met with Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque in Havana where he thanked the country for its continuous support of East Timor, "even under the most difficult circumstances."
Paul Toohey – Xanana Gusmao's Timorese Government is heading close to collapse as parties in his ruling Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) coalition turn against him and leave the door open for Fretilin, the party with the biggest majority, to form its own coalition.
Fabio Scarpello, Denpasar – Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao's already fragile government has been dealt a blow with the defection of a coalition partner to the opposition Fretilin, leaving it relying on independents.
Presenter: Monica Attard
A tale of East Timor's struggle for independence through the eyes of child resistance fighter - Naldo Rei.
Monica Attard: Hello, you've joined Sunday Profile and I'm Monica Attard. This week we're speaking to Naldo Rei, whose personal account of growing up amid East Timor's clandestine resistance movement has just been published in Australia.
Eleanor Hall: It's more than 30 years since five Australian based newsmen were shot dead at Balibo in East Timor.
Few deaths have caused so much controversy in Australia for so long – with several parliamentary inquiries and last year's coronial inquest which found that Indonesian soldiers executed the men as they invaded the former Portuguese territory from West Timor.
Jakarta – The joint Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) announced Wednesday it had completed its final report on human rights violations committed during the 1999 independence vote in East Timor.
Thorny issues from the past have often derailed relations between Timor Leste and its former master Indonesia. Timor Leste Prime Minister Kayrala Xanana Gusmao, on an official visit to Indonesia, discussed with The Jakarta Post's Riyadi Suparno and Matheos V. Messakh bilateral issues and the future of Timor Leste. What follows are excerpts:
East Timorese authorities hosted an alcohol-fuelled party for a band of rebels after they surrendered for trying to assassinate the nation's top leaders.
The soiree for the 12 rebels, including their leader Gastao Salsinha, was held at the joint headquarters of the police and military, hours after the men gave themselves up in Dili on Tuesday.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – As East Timorese President Jose Ramos Horta convalesces in Dili, some of his compatriots perhaps are wishing he had taken a while longer to recuperate, not least among them Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
Loro Horta, Dili – With its political and security institutions in shambles, East Timor, also known as Timor Leste, is now emerging as a soft landing spot for regional organized crime syndicates.
Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta has expressed regret for publicly accusing Indonesian elements of being involved in an assassination attempt against him, the neighboring country's prime minister said here Tuesday.
Paul Toohey – East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta yesterday came face to face with and shook the hand of the rebel he believes shot him on February 11 at a formal surrender ceremony in Dili that marked the end of a two-year rebellion.
Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Timor Leste and Indonesia agreed Tuesday to greater cooperation on many issues, with the leaders of the two nations expressing a commitment to preserving good bilateral ties.
The agreement followed a meeting between visiting Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Tito Belo, Dili – The leader of a group of East Timor rebels accused of trying to assassinate President Jose Ramos-Horta surrendered on Tuesday, raising hopes that the troubled young nation can find some rare stability.
John Aglionby, Jakarta – Justice for the victims of Indonesia's occupation of East Timor appeared more remote than ever on Tuesday after the two nations' leaders said they would draw a line under the past and forge a relationship focused on co-operation.
John McBeth – When Mr Xanana Gusmao pays his first visit to Indonesia as Timor Leste's Prime Minister next week, the former guerilla leader and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will have plenty to talk about – including possibly an Indonesian television talk show called Kick Andi.
Australia will withdraw 200 troops deployed to East Timor following February's attacks on the troubled country's president and prime minister, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.
Call for U.S. response to CAVR report
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC
Dear Secretary Rice,
The previous week saw the country rejoice at the safe return of President Jose Ramos-Horta, now recovered from an attempt on his life. Since the President's re-entry into political life, he has made a number of surprising public statements, most recently this last Wednesday, 23 April.
Recent comments about the establishment of a military court raise serious questions about how best to ensure the accountability of armed forces personnel. This issue has been sparked by the use of a site in Colmera, rather than the prison in Becora, as a detention facility for four captured dissident soldiers.
Karen Michelmore, Jakarta – East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta today said some people involved in the attempt on his life had fled to Australia.
He said "elements" outside East Timor had provided support to rebel leader Alfredo Reinado for at least a year leading up to the February attacks, including money, communications equipment and clothing.
Paul Toohey – East Timor has been consumed with rumours since President Jose Ramos Horta began looking beyond his own shores to an international conspiracy to assassinate him on February 11.
Lindsay Murdoch – Three rebels involved in attacks on East Timor's top two political leaders have been arrested in Indonesian West Timor where they were staying at the invitation of Joao Tavares, a notorious former pro-Jakarta militia commander.
Jakarta – East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta denied on Sunday that he had linked Indonesia's army to an attack on him after Jakarta said such a suggestion could hurt ties between the countries.
Jakarta – Fresh from his acquittal of past human rights violation charges in East Timor, former pro-Indonesia militia leader Eurico Guterres said Thursday he would meet Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao to push for reconciliation between the two countries. The reconciliatory talk is set for April 28 in Dili.
Mark Dodd – Impoverished East Timor has signed a $28 million deal with China to buy two advanced patrol boats in a move that will alarm Australia and Indonesia about increasing Chinese influence in the struggling nation.
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Rebels who attacked East Timor's top two political leaders had no instructions to kill them but had been ordered to Dili by their leader, Alfredo Reinado, for prearranged meetings, two rebels say.
East Timor, tomorrow, that deeply troubled nation will welcome home its President, Jose Ramos-Horta, who has been hospitalised in Darwin after being gunned down near his home three months ago. On that quite extraordinary morning, the Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao was also attacked and rebel leader Alfredo Reinado shot dead.
Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – The rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was involved in 47 telephone calls to or from Australia in the hours before he was shot dead at the home of East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, investigators have found.
Angus Grigg, Jakarta – It will be one of the more awkward handshakes of recent memory. The Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, meeting his East Timorese counterpart, Jose Ramos Horta, in Bali to receive a document that flatters neither man.
Tom Hyland – Canberra is maintaining a diplomatic silence over Indonesia's failure to punish anyone implicated in the mass murders that led to Australia's military intervention in East Timor in 1999.
Bramantyo Prijosusilo, Ngawi, East Java – It is official: no one was responsible for human rights abuses that occurred around the 1999 East Timor referendum in which more than 1,000 people reportedly died. In defeat in the referendum, Indonesia was a sore loser. For several weeks mobs rampaged through Dili, even attacking the residences of priests.
This week the Indonesian Supreme Court set free Eurico Guterres, former leader of Dili's Aitarak militia. This overturns a ten-year sentence for human rights violations, served since judgement in 2006.
The birth and infancy of Timor-Leste have been attended by spasms of violence. As the former East Timor separated from Indonesia in 1999, murderous unionist mobs killed hundreds.
Dili – A complete analysis of the 1999 crimes in Timor-Leste "will probably take a generation," affirmed the US Ambassador in Dili during an interview with the Lusa news agency.
"There has to be justice," replied the Ambassador when questioned about the US position with regards to the verdict of the crimes committed in 1999.
Dili – Two years after street violence in East Timor left dozens dead, many displaced by the unrest say they no longer fear violence, but are unable to return because their homes were destroyed.
Grigorio Sousa sits outside his tent in a makeshift camp in East Timor's violence-scarred capital and hugs his son as he speaks longingly of one day returning home.
No one is guilty for the 1999 mayhem in the then Indonesian province of East Timor. This is the conclusion of all the cases tried at Indonesia's ad hoc human rights court. And on Friday, the Supreme Court cleared former pro-Indonesia militia leader Eurico Guterres of rights violations.
Mark Dodd – East Timor's police force is tribalised, corrupt, inadequately trained and has no public trust. A scathing UN report, obtained by The Australian, argues the force is politically manipulated, chronically mismanaged and massively underfunded.
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – US support for the final report of the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) and the release of a former Timor Leste militia leader are face-saving efforts, says an expert.
Lindsay Murdoch, Darwin – The East Timorese rebel leader Alfredo Reinado was under the influence of alcohol and the drug methamphetamine when he led the attacks in Dili in February, East Timor's President, Jose Ramos-Horta, has disclosed.
Dili – Authorities from Timor Leste have expressed gratitude for collaboration in several fronts and the humanitarian labour of Cuban physicians and teachers in this small south Asian country.
Jakarta – The Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) must disclose who was behind the 1999 violence in East Timor despite a Supreme Court ruling to free all civilians involved, human rights activists said here Saturday.
East Timor's armed forces are being accused of using violence against civilians as they hunt for rebel soldiers involved in February's attacks on the country's President and Prime Minister.
Almost two months after the attacks, reports from Dili confirm that many of those responsible for the attempted assassinations remain on the run.
Karen Michelmore, Jakarta – East Timor's President Jose Ramos Horta has taken aim at Indonesian military officers involved in the violence surrounding East Timor's historic 1999 vote for independence.
Kupang – International aid agencies have evacuated staff from Indonesia's West Timor after violent demonstrations by ex-East Timorese refugees continued for a fifth day, social workers said on Saturday.
Jakarta – The United States has said it would accept the findings of a truth commission probing killings by Indonesian troops during East Timor's break from Jakarta – despite a boycott of the process by the United Nations and criticism by rights groups.
See interview with Christopher R. Hill, Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs below
Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Jakarta – Former pro-Jakarta East Timor militia leader Eurico Guterres, who had been jailed in Indonesia since 2006 for having committed gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999, has been acquitted, a Supreme Court judge said Friday.