Jose Sarito Amaral, Dili – Thousands of Timor Leste citizens commemorated yesterday (12/11) the tragedy of November 12, 1991 when Indonesian soldiers fired on a crowd of youths in Santa Cruz cemetery, Dili. Around 200 people died then, but most of the victims' graves have not been found.

Jose Sarito Amaral, Dili – Thousands of Timor Leste citizens commemorated yesterday (12/11) the tragedy of 12 November 1991, when Indonesian soldiers fired on a crowd of youths in Santa Cruz cemetery, Dili. Around 200 people died then, but most of the victims' graves have not been found.

The report from a coronial inquest into the Balibo Five deaths is handed down next week. Mal Walden recounts the gut-wrenching day he heard the news.

October 15, 1975, late in the day, and the shrill ringing of a telephone shattered the silence of Channel Seven's almost-empty newsroom.

New York – The United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) today released a report showing progress in promoting human rights in the nascent country while calling for further measures to help displaced persons and prevent impunity.

Tony Iltis – In 1975, when Indonesia invaded East Timor, beginning a 24-year occupation that cost over 200,000 Timorese lives (over a third of the population), Australia's support for this genocidal occupation was predicated on a policy outlined in the infamous "Woolcott telegram": that Australia's interest in East Timor was derived from the oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea.

Jakarta – Indonesia insists the Balibo Five case is closed, despite fresh reports that a telegram sent by an Australian Government minister revealed the five journalists were murdered in East Timor.

Sydney – A telegram sent from a minister just days after the Balibo Five were killed in East Timor revealed they had been murdered, and proved the government was engaged in a cover-up, one of their widows says.

Geraldine Willesee – The nightmare of East Timor followed my father to his deathbed. "Two hundred thousand dead... 200,000." A lifetime of politics poured into a single nugget of horror. "Two hundred thousand dead."

Dan Box – Whitlam era foreign minister Don Willesee believed the Balibo Five were "murdered" by Indonesian soldiers and in his dying days told his daughter the Australian government had conspired to keep news of the deaths from the victims' families.

The truth about the murder of five journalists at Balibo on October 16, 1975, in the lead-up to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor is one of the longest and saddest cases of government abuse of Australians' right to know.

Peter Ker, Sydney – East Timor President Jose Ramos Horta has weighed into the 2007 federal election campaign by passionately endorsing a direct opponent of Prime Minister John Howard in the Sydney electorate of Bennelong.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The joint Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) will ignore UN criticism and focus on finalizing its report without testimonials from officials of the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET).

A former diplomat has slammed public servants' "willingness to lie", after an investigation into claims he was pressured to break the law ended because of a lack of evidence.

The Greens have used the case to push for a whistleblowers' authority independent from the bureaucracy.

Annolies Truman – Two thousand people rallied in the East Timorese capital of Dili on October 17 to demand food sovereignty for East Timor. The demonstration was the culmination of three days of activities to mark World Food Day.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Members of the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) may decide by vote if gross violations of human rights occurred before and after the 1999 referendum in East Timor if they fail to reach a consensus on the matter.

Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – A commission investigating bloodshed during East Timor's 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia will offer United Nations officials another chance to testify, its co-chairman said on Friday.

Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – The United Nations and Portugal must share responsibility for violence that marred East Timor's 1999 vote for independence, a former general told a truth commission investigating the bloodshed.

Abdul Khalik and Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) is moving closer toward submitting its conclusions about alleged human rights abuses in Timor Leste, with its final public hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

The Australian Defence Department has rejected allegations that six Australian soldiers beat a civilian Timorese security guard in Dili last Sunday.

A Fretilin party MP reportedly told East Timor's Parliament that the guard was beaten by the soldiers at a government warehouse. The MP also said two other people were assaulted by the Australian troops.

Dili – East Timor's major political party Fretilin has called on President Jose Ramos Horta to dismiss the Prosecutor General Longuinhos Monteiro following new evidence that he conspired to bring down the former Fretilin government.

Ati Nurbaiti, Dili – Mario Goncalves hides a missing earlobe below his white hair because East Timor is independent.

Goncalves' brother – whose son was behind the injury – told Goncalves he would pay for corrective surgery if the 1999 referendum showed that most Timorese wanted to stick with Indonesia.

Dili – East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta has sworn in the country's State Council, saying the advisory body faced the challenge of restoring stability to the young nation.

Speaking in Portuguese, one of the country's two official languages, Ramos-Horta said there were "many priorities which will soon have to be on the agenda of the state advisors."

Nelson da Cruz, Dili – Jacinta Barros, an East Timorese mother of eight, sits on a bed in her new temporary home, a one-room affair that sleeps 13 of her relatives, refugees from unrest last year who still cannot go home.

By day, the spartan room bakes in the searing tropical sun and by night it gets chilly as a wind blows under the eaves where ceilings should be.

By January, Indonesia and Timor Leste should have a shared acknowledgement of the violence-filled year of 1999. During the recent public hearings of the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) in Dili, The Jakarta Post's Ati Nurbaiti talked to Lt. Gen. (ret) Agus Widjojo, the only commission member with a background in the Indonesian Military.

Marianne Kearney, Dili – At a camp behind the Lucidere Monastery in Dili, more than 50 families are crowded into what was once the monastery's garden.

Marianne Kearney – East Timorese youths have been paid to kill people during periods of political unrest, a Catholic priest has alleged.

Father Martinho Gusmao has told The Courier-Mail that provocateurs have a graded scale of fees for for rock throwing, burning houses and murder. His information comes from hearing the confessions of dozens of youths.

Organize by Sec. FONGTIL with Members: HAK Association, FOKUPERS, FTM, ESPADA, HCTL, Katilosa, KSUTL, GFFL, MBC-TL, HAPOTI, JSMP, Caritas Australia, Lao Hamutuk, Luta Hamutuk, Includes ICTJ, ETCRN, ANTI and Front Mahsiswa Timor Leste

Timor Leste – Indonesia

Dili, 8 October 2007

Dear Atul Khare
SRSG For Timor Leste

Dili – East Timor's parliament on Saturday passed a transitional period budget proposal of 112 million dollars on a split decision.

Lindsay Murdoch – A former East Timorese guerilla at the centre of allegations that forced Fretilin prime minister Mari Alkatiri from office last year has been arrested in Dili.

Jon Lamb – Human rights activists from East Timor and Indonesia have slammed the latest round of the Indonesia-East Timor Truth and Friendship Commission (CTF), which began hearings in Dili on September 24.

Dili – A former East Timorese guerrilla fighter was arrested on Wednesday and charged in connection with deadly unrest that flared here last year, the United Nations mission said.

In East Timor, the Truth and Friendship Commission has wound up its public hearings. The joint Indonesian and Timorese Commission was established to uncover the truth behind the violence surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999.

By Charles Scheiner, Dili, Timor-Leste

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Indonesia and Timor Leste still have to settle the cases of 81 children who were separated from their parents after the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) handed them over in 2005, a social services official said.

Garry Maddox – Anthony LaPaglia will star in a film telling the story of the five newsmen who were shot dead in East Timor in 1975.

Ati Nurbaiti, Dili – A former pro-integration leader told a public hearing here Wednesday that many Timorese civilians were forced by poverty to join pro-Indonesian militias.

Agung Yudhawiranata, Jakarta – The Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) involving Timor Leste and Indonesia is organizing the fifth in its series of public hearings in Dili from Sept. 24-27.

Indonesia was responsible for the bloodshed surrounding East Timor's independence vote in 1999, a former pro-Jakarta militia chief told a commission set up to investigate the violence at a hearing.

Pro-Indonesian militiamen went on a violent rampage before and after the UN-sponsored vote that ended 24 years of Jakarta rule in the former Portuguese colony.

Ati Nurbaiti, Dili – A Timor Leste government official who said he was once a "double agent" in East Timor's resistance movement and the Indonesian Military, claimed offers of financial aid and weapons were made by Indonesian generals to "pro-integration" Timorese.

Dili – An East Timorese who was a pro-Indonesia activist during the tiny nation's 1999 independence vote said Wednesday that Indonesia's military should be held responsible for violence occurring then.

Jon Lamb – On September 12, the new East Timorese government led by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, tabled the Government Program for 2007-12. The coalition Parliamentary Majority Alliance (AMP) believes the program will help alleviate poverty and resolve internal unrest and security issues.

Dili – About 50 people demonstrated in East Timor's capital today, calling for an international tribunal to try individuals who committed atrocities during the vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The joint Indonesia-Timor Leste Truth and Friendship Commission (CTF) is scheduled to hold its final hearing today, which could see Timor Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao testify, along with several other key witnesses.

Chad Bouchard, Jakarta – Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao testified behind closed doors Monday on what he knew about the unrest that accompanied East Timor's vote to separate from Indonesian rule in 1999.

Paul Cleary – For a country controlling a maritime region of 15 million square kilometres – more than twice the size of its landmass – Australia has limited powers to stop unlawful exploitation of creatures such as endangered whales and fish, and the resources found underneath the seabed.

East Timor's government fears a jailed former minister, allowed to leave the country for medical care, won't return to serve his sentence for arming hit squads during last year's unrest.

The government has also flagged a possible corruption inquiry related to the case of the former Fretilin government's interior minister Rogerio Lobato.

Denpasar – East Timor's president on Friday brushed off a UN threat to boycott a commission charged with examining violence surrounding East Timor's 1999 independence vote, an official said.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – With the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission for Truth and Friendship (CTF) due to hold its final hearing Monday, critics are asking if its findings will have any credibility with the victims or the international community.

Tito Belo, Dili – Chinese businessmen want to invest more than $100 million in East Timor over the next 10 years in a range of sectors from banking to agriculture, a Chinese business delegation said on Friday.

The Democratic Socialist Perspective (DSP), a Marxist tendency in the Socialist Alliance, is now calling for the immediate withdrawal of the Australian troops from East Timor. A meeting of the DSP National Committee resolved to investigate the prospects for building a public campaign around this demand.