President Xanana Gusmao called Thursday to the nations of the North to grant debt relief to the countries in the South, who would, in their turn seek to implement "good governance" with

Andrew Trounson, Melbourne – East Timor is getting down to business. And that means playing tough, even with your friends.

Catharine Munro, Jakarta – Indonesian human rights prosecutors today raised the prospect of dropping charges against some defendants facing trial for gross human rights violations in Ea

The Indonesian military, until recently occupiers of East Timor, may soon begin training officers for Dili's fledgling defense force, the UN mission in the newly independent country sai

Jakarta – An investigation into the murder of a Dutch journalist in East Timor in 1999 is still open, a Dutch police officer said Wednesday after giving Indonesian prosecutors fresh evi

A survivor of a bloody attack on a refugee-filled church compound in East Timor in April 1999 said Wednesday he saw uniformed Indonesian soldiers and police fire shots into the compound

Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors said Wednesday they would seek to reopen the investigation into the killing of a Dutch journalist in East Timor, after receiving new evidence from Dutch

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – The former commander of Indonesian troops in East Timor went on trial Tuesday on charges of crimes against humanity for allegedly allowing his soldiers to commi

After signing and approving East Timor's state budget Tuesday, President Xanana Gusmao called for revision of the measures within four months, while also lamenting the lackluster nature

A draft bill on amnesty and pardoning of sentences has been criticized as being "unconstitutional", "too general" and open to "dangerous interpretation", by a leading Timorese nongovern

President Xanana Gusmao will address the East Timorese Tuesday in a nationally broadcast speech that an aide described Monday as centered on his two-week delay in signing the government

Nigel Wilson – East Timor's decision to pursue maritime boundaries that might include substantial Australian oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea will not derail talks aimed at definin

[East Timor's fledgling parliament has made a key decision about the nation's borders which could be the first big test of its relations with Australia.

[The following letter to the the Sydney Morning Herald editor was issued by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Dr Jose Ramos-Horta.]

Prosecutors yesterday demanded that East Timor's former Indonesian-appointed governor be sent to prison for 10 and a half years – just six months more than the minimum sentence for crim

Thalif Deen, United Nations – East Timor, the world's newest nation, will ask the United Nations to designate it a "least developed country" (LDC).

Two former top Indonesian ministers told a human rights trial yesterday that a savage outbreak of militia violence in East Timor in September 1999 caught the Jakarta government unawares

Jill Jolliffe – An argument over who is to be East Timor's first ambassador to Australia could lead to a showdown between President Xanana Gusmao and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expects to see half of the remaining 50,000 East Timorese refugees currently taking shelter in neighboring East N

[Deliverance by Don Greenlees and Robert Garran, Allen & Unwin.]

Rod McGuirk, Darwin – East Timor President and former freedom fighter Xanana Gusmao today said he did not want to see the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya win independence.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, has put pragmatism ahead of human rights in his first foreign policy statement, describing China as the new nation

Thomas Freitas, Dili – Activists from the NGO La'o Hamutuk and others were disappointed by Manuel Carrascalao's statement in Tuesday's edition of STL that "Foreigners can not come here

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Dozens of people claiming to represent thousands of East Timorese refugees sheltering in camps in West Timor rallied at the gubernatorial office in the regiona

East Timor's parliament approved a draft bill Tuesday on maritime borders, paving the way for the ratification of the potentially lucrative Timor Sea oil and gas treaty, signed in May b

The European Union is to give humanitarian aid worth nearly euros 2 million to East Timorese refugees still living in camps in Indonesian West Timor, it was announced Tuesday in Brussel

Dili – UN Police officials today announced they have seized two trucks loaded with sandalwood apparently destined for sale outside East Timor.

East Timor's minister of health has said that his country has all the conditions necessary for the outbreak of an Aids epidemic and urgent measure are needed to prevent this.

Dili – Amnesty should not be offered to those responsible for crimes against humanity during the violence that surrounded East Timor's 1999 bid for independence, said Bishop Carlos Xime

Reporter: Ross Coulthart

Producer: In collaboration with Max Stahl of Gillan Films

Jakarta/Kupang – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday that 1,500 East Timorese children, placed in orphanages across Indonesia in 1999, had not yet b

Jill Jolliffe, Maubisse – Like most country folk in East Timor, the 18,000 people of the Maubisse district are enthusiastic about independence, but worried about their future.

Geneva – East Timor's Health Minister, Rui Maria de Araujo, warned Friday that his newly-independent country was in danger of an AIDS epidemic, saying its low official figures were "jus

Geoffrey Barker – Sixty influential Chinese business association leaders arrived in Dili from Macau last week to talk to East Timorese leaders about investing in the impoverished new na

[Achieving justice in East Timor for the victims of the violence after the 1999 independence vote, is not proving to be an easy task.

Mark Dodd, Dili – At just four weeks old East Timor may be the world's newest nation, but its first big problem is how to deal with its past.

Lincoln Wright – Defence Minister Robert Hill has rejected claims from a whistleblower that the Defence Signals Directorate spied on journalists to discover who was leaking sensitive in

East Timor's foreign minister said Wednesday that he regretted the decision of the United States to withdraw its military observers from the newly independent nation over fears of possi

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Just four years ago, Mr Xanana Gusmao was Indonesia's most prized rebel prisoner.

Kupang – East Timorese refugees living in various camps in West Timor continued with their protests on Tuesday, demanding aid from the government for some 20,000 refugee families, or so

Jakarta – Indonesia and East Timor on Tuesday agreed to seek the best way of settling the issue of assets the former had left behind in what used to be its 27th province.

When East Timor President Xanana Gusmao began his official visit in Indonesia on Tuesday, he was received with a red carpet welcome and full military honors fitting for all visiting hea

Barry FitzGerald – The Timor Sea has continued to grow in importance for the Adelaide-based and Cooper Basin-dependent Santos, with the group yesterday becoming the managing partner in

Flaws in the indictment of notorious militia leader, Eurico Guterres, are the clearest indication yet of Indonesia's lack of commitment to justice for the victims of human rights atroci

Indonesia rolled out the red carpet for the man it once jailed as a subversive as Xanana Gusmao arrived in the capital for his first visit as president of newly independent East Timor.

Beijing – China supports the building of an East Timor army and will work toward friendly ties with it, state media quoted China's defense minister saying Tuesday.

Mansour Fakih – My first visit to East Timor was early in 2000. The towns were still smoldering, and the atmosphere was tense. I was shocked, angry, and so disillusioned.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Human rights activists warned on Friday of another red mark against the country's judicial system should the ad hoc Human Rights Tribunal fail to hold

Hundreds of East Timorese refugees demonstrated outside the governor's office in East Nusa Tenggara province Saturday demanding a resumption of humanitarian aid, the national news agenc

Jill Jolliffe – The United Nations has increased pressure on the Indonesian Government to produce results over war crimes in East Timor by releasing its own detailed indictments for sev