East Timor's Interior Ministry on Friday summoned Indonesia's ambassador in Dili to express concern over the alleged rape of an East Timorese woman last month by Indonesian soldiers in the border area.

The federal government has sidestepped accusations it wanted East Timor to remain a province of Indonesia and delay its bid for independence.

The final report of East Timor's truth and reconciliation commission says Foreign Minister Alexander Downer wanted to delay the 1999 poll by several years.

Dili – East Timorese officials strongly criticized a New York-based human rights group Thursday for publishing on the Internet without authorization an official Timorese report on crimes against humanity that has embarrassed Indonesia.

A Foreign Office minister yesterday denied that the Government misled the relatives of a Bristol cameraman killed in East Timor. Douglas Alexander also rejected calls to meet senior politicians in Indonesia to discuss the death of Brian Peters and four other journalists in 1975.

Canberra – Australia wanted East Timor to remain an Indonesian province and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer lobbied Jakarta to delay a vote for independence, a report to the UN has found.

Joseph Nevins, New York – The logic of reparations for war-related crimes has a long history. It has become especially powerful in the aftermath of the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust as a way to address both past and associated present-day injustices.

Sian Powell – In September 1999, a young East Timorese woman was brought to a militia post in Gleno. In the days immediately after the independence ballot, she was at the mercy of men who had lost the fight to keep East Timor within Indonesia.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Relations between Indonesia and East Timor have soured, with Jakarta canceling President Xanana Gusmao's visit to deliver a report alleging Indonesian crimes against humanity.

Mr Gusmao had planned to deliver the 2500-page report to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono tomorrow on his way home from the UN in New York.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Human rights activists have criticized the government's defensive stance on a report by an independent commission, which claims that up to 180,000 people died during Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor (now Timor Leste).

The Timor Leste government submitted the report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Saturday (Indonesian time).

Jon Lamb – On January 12, Australia and East Timor signed a deal establishing a 50-50 split of royalties from the lucrative Greater Sunrise gas field in the Timor Sea.

Colum Lynch, United Nations – US political and military support for Indonesia was vital to its ability to invade East Timor in December 1975 and to sustain a brutal 24-year occupation that cost the lives of at least 100,000 people, parts of a Timorese inquiry made public Tuesday show.

Washington – US-supplied aircraft played a crucial role in enabling the Indonesian military to crush East Timorese resistance to its invasion and occupation of the territory in the late 1970s, according to a report by an East Timor commission.

Sydney – A new report backing claims that Indonesian soldiers deliberately killed the Balibo Five journalists has sparked fresh calls for Australia to hold a full judicial inquiry into their deaths.

Washington – East Timor needs a continued United Nations presence after the scheduled pullout of the UNOTIL mission in May, particularly to prepare for elections and train police to prevent border tensions with Indonesia, President Xanana Gusmao has told the UN Security Council.

The East Timorese have two tetchy, uncharitable neighbours in Indonesia and Australia, neither willing to lend a genuine hand to the nation, says Peter Kammerer

Guido Guilliart, Dili – An internationally funded report supports claims that Indonesian soldiers intentionally killed five foreign journalists who were covering Jakarta's 1975 invasion of East Timor.

Edith M. Lederer, United Nations – East Timor's president urged the UN Security Council on Monday to keep a small political office in the country after the UN wraps up its six-year operation in May.

President Xanana Gusmao hopes the office will help with next year's elections and support critically needed police training, as well as justice and finance reforms.

Scott Burchill – The report of the United Nations inquiry into Indonesia's brutal 24-year occupation of East Timor will come as no surprise to activists who opposed the policies of successive Australian governments, beginning in 1975, nor to the people of East Timor.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Indonesia's own military films provide the proof that the Soviet equivalent of napalm, opalm, was used on the people of East Timor during Jakarta's 24-year occupation of the former Portuguese colony.

Colum Lynch, United Nations – An internal UN probe of the department that runs international peacekeeping operations has uncovered extensive evidence of mismanagement and possible fraud, and triggered the suspension of eight procurement officials pending an investigation, according to UN officials and documents.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military chief on Sunday denied that the country's forces massacred or starved to death more than 180,000 civilians and used napalm against them during its 24-year occupation of East Timor.

Jim Dickins – Police failed to investigate allegations an Australian public servant passed massive bribes to East Timor's Prime Minister.

Documents lodged with a United States court claim an Australian acted as the bagman in a conspiracy involving US energy giant ConocoPhillips. Bribery of foreign officials is a criminal offence punishable by as much as 10 years in jail.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – A historian is urging the government to examine the reasons behind Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975 and any excesses in its 24-year occupation, so that the country can rid itself of "ignorance and hatred".

Debbie Elliott, host:

Baucau – The people of East Timor are afraid that the names of the thousands of lives lost during Indonesia's occupation of the country will be forgotten in the name of reconciliation with the former occupier. They want their president to provide more information and be more open to dialogue over the issue.

Jakarta – The government played down Friday a report leaked to the Australian media alleging that Indonesia's 24-year-long occupation of East Timor (now Timor Leste) caused the deaths of up to 180,000 people.

Colum Lynch and Ellen Nakashima, United Nations – Indonesian security forces and militias they supported killed at least 100,000 East Timorese people – and perhaps as many as 180,000 – over 24 years through torture, starvation, arbitrary execution and massacres, according to a report presented to the United Nations by Timorese President Xanana Gusmao on Friday.

New Zealand should lead the way by offering reparation to East Timor, Green MP Keith Locke said today after details of a damning United Nations report into what happened under Indonesian occupation were published.

Sian Powell – Former prime minister Gough Whitlam has been condemned for his tacit approval of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975, his refusal to acknowledge famine on the half-island and his alleged lobbying against its Catholic church leader.

New Zealand should lead the way by offering reparation to East Timor, Green MP Keith Locke said today after details of a damning United Nations report into what happened under Indonesian occupation were published.

Damien Murphy – Australia would be guided by East Timor's attitudes on how it wished to come to terms with human rights abuses that took place before independence, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said yesterday.

New York – Indonesian politicians should not misunderstand the move of Timor Leste's independent commission to report its investigation results to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Timor Leste's Foreign Minister Ramos Horta said here on Friday (Saturday in Indonesia).

New York – President Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão of Timor-Leste presented the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, with the final report of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste (CAVR in its Portuguese acronym). In so doing, President Gusmão complied with the UN regulations that established the CAVR in 2001 and with Timorese legislation.

Sian Powell's exclusive report on atrocities against the people of East Timor during the 24 years of Indonesian occupation, published in The Australianyesterday, was grim reading, detailing anything up to 180,000 deaths, mainly from starvation.

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today called on the United Nations to launch a broad and thorough discussion of the report of Timor-Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (known by its Portuguese acronym, CAVR).

Sian Powell, Jakarta – good relations with Indonesia have always been of prime importance to the independent nation of East Timor.

The half-island of one million people is surrounded on three sides by giant Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago with a population of 230million.

Jakarta – The United Nations should publicise a report it was due to receive alleging that Indonesia's occupation of East Timor caused the deaths of up to 180,000 civilians, a rights group said.

His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan
Secretary-General of the United Nations
New York, NY USA
By fax to +1-212-963-7055

Dili, 19 January 2006

Re: Handover of CAVR's report

Sian Powell – One of the most enduring horrors of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor was the "fence of legs" campaign in 1981, which rounded up civilians – young and old, sick and hungry – and made them march across the island.

Sian Powell, Jakarta – The Indonesian military used starvation as a weapon to exterminate the East Timorese, according to a UN report documenting the deaths of as many as 180,000 civilians at the hands of the occupying forces.

A deal signed last week between East Timor and Australia to share billions of dollars in revenue from Timor Sea oil and gas deposits has short-changed Asia's poorest country, a rights group says.

The welcome resolution of East Timor's dispute with Australia over oil and gas revenue from the Timor Sea means about $150,000 for every man, woman and child in the recently independent nation.

The new treaty between the governments of Australia and Timor-Leste to share oil and gas resources from part of the Timor Sea temporarily resolves a long-standing and difficult dispute. However, the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) believes this agreement does not fully serve the rights and interests of the people of Timor-Leste.

His Excellency Kay Rala Xanana Gusmco
President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
C/o The Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
3415 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20007

Via facsimile: 202 965-1517

Your Excellency:

[Joseph Nevins: A Not-So-Distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor. Cornell University Press. Reviewed by Maire Leadbeater.]

Will the world forget the paroxysm of murderous violence that erupted when the East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence on August 30, 1999?

The Australian Government has been accused of bullying and short-changing East Timor.

Australia and East Timor have formally signed a treaty to share the revenue from the main oil and gas field in the Timor Sea, ending a two-year dispute.

Nigel Wilson – Maritime boundary negotiations between Australia and East Timor have been put on hold for 50 years under a deal to share the Timor Sea's petroleum riches that will deliver up to $25 billion cash to the fledgling democracy.

Dan Box, John Kerin – East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has declared that the fledgling nation does not need Australia's help to deal with border skirmishes.

Dr Alkatiri, who is in Australia to sign a resources deal, was responding yesterday to an incident in which East Timorese police shot and killed three Indonesians and former militia members.

Woodside Petroleum on Thursday welcomed the Timor Sea gas agreement between Australia and East Timor but said the Greater Sunrise gas project would remain on hold for now.