Tom Hyland and Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – A fully armed Indonesian warship was last night ordered out of Dili Harbour by East Timor and the United Nations after it arrived unannounced and

Conservative and isolated for decades, East Timor's Catholic Church is the most powerful institution in the soon-to-be nation, with many Timorese saying its charismatic leader, Bishop C

Alexander Weissink, Jakarta – The world's youngest democracy will have to stand on its own feet from Sunday.

Joanne Collins, Manatuto – Fidgeting in his chair and staring at the ground, Matias Soares recalls the night he and other pro-Jakarta militiamen went on a rampage, torching houses one b

Bronwyn Curran, Dili – The flags of the world are fluttering above a frenzy of roof-fixing, painting and construction as East Timor's waterfront capital spruces up to welcome VIPs from

East Timor Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo complained of the rise in foreign prostitutes in the staunchly Catholic territory, which becomes independent at midnight on Sunday.

The United Nations Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) asked the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) administration on Thursday to protect East Timorese students studying in Kupang from intimida

Adam Majendie.

Tim Dodd, Jakarta – On the eve of East Timor's independence a majority of Indonesians, ranging from the influential political elite to ordinary people, appear ready to accept the new na

Alan Boyd, Sydney – Time is running out for a settlement of disputed oil and gas royalties in the Timor Gap, as Australia turns up the diplomatic heat on the fledgling Timorese republic

As Bill Clinton leads the US delegation to East Timor's independence celebration, the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) urged that the history of US support for Indonesia's military occu

Dean Yates, Dili – Caitono Soares erupted in anger when he saw East Timor's national flag being peddled from the back of a car in the capital Dili.

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Eric Ellis, Dili – A warrior of the East Timor Defence Force stands guard outside the offices of Aderito Hugo da Costa, editor-in-chief of Dili's Timor Post.

Chris McCall, Dili – Nearly 20 years ago, the remote East Timor community of Muapitine was shaken by a string of killings.

Colum Lynch, United Nations – The United States is seeking assurances from the United Nations that all UN personnel serving in a peacekeeping mission in East Timor would be shielded fro

East Timor has traditionally been a patriarchal society with limited opportunities for women, but Maria Domingas, an ex-guerilla, says that it is now necessary to "start from scratch" i

Stephanie Coop – After a lifetime dedicated to fighting for a free East Timor, Jacinto Alves will finally see his country move to full independence Monday, when the United Nations' tran

Asia's newest nation has been officially listed by the UN as the poorest country in the region.

Joanne Collins, Dili – Paint is being slapped on fences, scaffolding is coming down from buildings, weeds are being ripped up and soccer fields are getting new goal posts.

Chris Brummitt, Dili – Children in East Timor are having trouble getting their tongues around their new official language.

Tim Dodd – Dili, which becomes the capital of the independent state of East Timor at midnight this Sunday, is a relatively prosperous town for a developing country.

John Martinkus, Kupang – On the outskirts of the West Timorese capital, Kupang, a dusty former bus terminal still serves as the home for some of the estimated 60,000 East Timorese refug

Jon Land – On the eve of East Timor's independence on May 20, the crucial issue of the Timor Gap has still to be fully resolved.

Rod McGuirk – East Timor has a good chance of becoming financially independent in a few years through Timor Sea energy royalties, the World Bank told donor nations yesterday.

Don Greenlees, Dili – Francisco Alves voted in favour of East Timor remaining a part of Indonesia in the 1999 referendum on independence.

Former Indonesian militia leader Eurico Guterres is being questioned in Jakarta today at the trials of 18-military, police and civilian officials accused of human rights abuses in East

Nusa Dua, Bali – Udayana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Willem T.

Tim Dodd – The infant Government of East Timor is supposed to have a car registration system and, indeed, there are plenty of vehicles on the road sporting the new TLS plates standing f

jakarta – A civilian and policeman testified on Monday at the trial of four soldiers and one policeman accused of gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999 that they saw all t

Joanne Collins, Dili – Tiny East Timor, counting down to its independence in a few days, is Asia's poorest country and will need considerable international assistance in the years ahead

Chris McCall at Mota Ain, the Timor border – Torn between tears and smiles, the refugees line up with all their worldly goods and wait to go home. Some are even bringing their dead.

Michael Richardson, Bacau – Marito Reis spent nearly 15 years in Indonesian prisons after he was arrested in 1980 for being a member of the clandestine underground movement supporting t

As East Timor readies for independence on 20 May, Jakarta correspondent Richard Galpin writes that most of those who wreaked terrible violence after the 1999 vote to end Indonesian rule

Philip Sherwell, Maliana – In a calculated snub to the United Nations and Europe, the prime suspect in the murder of a Financial Times journalist in East Timor in 1999 returned to the t

Chris McCall in Noelbaki Camp, West Timor – Among decrepit huts, a few hundred disgruntled and demoralised East Timorese militiamen are pondering a bleak future, a shadow of the terror

Tim Dodd, Dili – Commodity markets are doing no favours for East Timor, which becomes an independent nation next weekend, with prices for coffee, its most valued agricultural product, l

New York (CNS) – A "new consciousness of democratic ideals" and "assertive nationalism" is emerging in East Timor, said Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo of Dili, East Timor.

Tiarma Siboro and Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – An Indonesian Military (TNI) general said on Wednesday that the United Nations had a share of the blame in the violence and human ri

[Ivete D'Oliveira began working with CIIR's Women's Advocacy Programme in August 2001.

Rowan Callick – The human rights trials under way in Jakarta over the events in East Timor in 1999 are reinforcing the near-universal image in Indonesia of the conflict as a civil war b

Paul Knox – Most poor countries are in hock to rich ones. This is not necessarily a bad thing, any more than a car loan or a mortgage. But overindebtedness is definitely a bad thing.

Three witnesses told the Human Rights Tribunal on Tuesday that they saw a number of people in military uniform burying victims of a massacre in a mass grave in Metamauk village in Wemas

East Timor's Truth and Reconciliation Commission faces huge problems, not least a long local tradition of revenge, writes Hamish McDonald.

East Timorese exiles in Indonesia could help lead a revolt in their former homeland if leaders of the newly-independent nation fail to bring prosperity, an exiles' leader said.

Jennifer Hewett And Jane Counsel – Woodside is caught in another hot debate.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – Three years after East Timor was laid waste by Indonesian military-sponsored militia, the country's President-elect, Xanana Gusmao, declared yesterday that just

Indonesia's army chief has urged his countrymen to forget their traumatic past with East Timor and embrace its sovereignty, amid lingering bitterness about the territory's breakaway.

East Timor's president-elect Xanana Gusmao met Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri in Jakarta to personally invite her to attend his country's independence celebrations later thi

Mark Baker – East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta has ruled out any backing for separatist movements within Indonesia once the country achieves its independence next month.