Jill Jolliffe, Dili – Members of an armed militia group arrested here last week say they agreed to return as guerillas because Indonesian officials in West Timor had prevented them from

Jakarta – Timor Leste faces the worst threat to its stability since independence as security forces counter raids by armed gangs from Indonesia's West Timor.

John Kerin and Terry Plane – East Timorese Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta wants Australia's UN peacekeepers to be involved in joint operations with the East Timor Defence Force to co

The Army's elite Special Forces (Kopassus) is reportedly behind recent incursions into East Timor by militia fighters.

East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, has warned that the United Nations peacekeepers stationed in the new nation are not managing to control border raids into East Timor by

Jill Jolliffe, Atsabe – The hamlet of Tiarlelo is only a few kilometres from Atsabe, itself 25 kilometres from the border with West Timor, but the rough jungle track that leads to it em

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Some of the 28,000 East Timorese who remain in West Timor after fleeing the carnage that followed East Timor's 1999 vote for independence will soon be leaving t

Dili – A captured former anti-independence militiaman has told interrogators in Dili that at least seven armed groups infiltrated East Timor from Indonesia in December, according to two

Dili – East Timor police said Thursday they arrested two former pro-Jakarta militiamen on weapons charges but declined to say if the men were linked to a recent surge in violence in the

Jill Jolliffe, Darwin – United Nations officials and East Timorese government leaders are re-assessing security after a weekend border attack with all the hallmarks of a militia incursi

Dili – East Timor's defence force is to send 180 soldiers to a district where attackers killed four villagers over the weekend, a defence source said yesterday.

Dili – Screaming "We are coming back for you", a gang armed with automatic rifles raided two villages in newly independent East Timor, killing four people and injuring eight, witnesses

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Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – At least 8,000 East Timorese families seeking refuge in West Timor had decided to stay in Indonesia, a local military commander said Thursday.

Jake Skeers – Despite considerable opposition from ordinary people, particularly in the northern city of Darwin, the Australian government has resumed the process of deporting about 1,8

David Fickling, Darwin – Absurdity is a concept particularly popular with politicians treading on shaky moral ground.

Ruth Ratcliffe, Darwin – "I'm here because I don't like injustice, and I don't like being ashamed of my country", declared Jack, one of the 250 people who attended a public meeting in s

Jon Land – Pressure is mounting against the federal government's moves to deport 1600-1800 East Timorese asylum seekers, some of whom have been seeking refugee status for up to 10 years

Atambua – More and more East Timorese refugees in the camps in Belu regency, East Nusa Tenggara, expressed their wish to return to their homeland of East Timor especially now on the occ

Rules making it more difficult for people to gain permanent residence in Australia have been necessary to stop an increasing flow of people, by no means all of them genuine refugees, wh

Federal Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock knows how to kick a man when he's down.

The Senate has endorsed a motion recognising the plight of the East Timorese refugees and has called on the Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock to grant special visas on humanitarian gr

Sarah Stephen – Fatima is a widow and grandmother who has been in Australia for 10 years, living with her family who are financially supporting her.

[The East Timor government says unsuccessful asylum-seekers forced to return from Australia will be a burden on the country's fledgeling economy.

Helen Signy and Cynthia Banham – The Australian Government issued a secret directive that refugee applications from the East Timorese community should be put on hold, documents obtained

Andrew West – Under the threat of deportation, the Lay family celebrated the eighth anniversary of their arrival in Australia at their Fairfield home yesterday.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – With the deadline for the closure of refugee camps here drawing near, 121 East Timorese families have registered for the government-sponsored resettlement prog

Jakarta – The government has agreed to hold a special repatriation program for East Timorese refugees who want to go home late this year, Antara reported.

Jill Jolliffe, Atambua – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao has called on the United Nations to lower its security rating for West Timor, which is now at a higher stage of alert than

Jill Jolliffe, Kupang – President Jose "Xanana" Gusmao has led a delegation of more than 100 East Timorese, including parliamentarians, cabinet ministers, a football team and 16 enterta

Kupang – East Timorese president Xanana Gusmao told a sports stadium filled with East Timorese refugees Saturday that it was their decision whether or not to return home.

Kupang – The president of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, Alexander "Xanana" Gusmao, arrived here on Friday morning, amid tight security, for a four-day official trip that will i

President of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Francis Carroll, has written to the Minister for Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon Philip R

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Hundreds of East Timorese refugees sheltering in Kupang and Belu regencies have refused to be repatriated, pending the disbursement of Christmas bonuses promis

Jakarta – Nearly 400 displaced East Timorese sheltering in West Timor have been forced to eat leaves for the past month as they cannot afford to buy rice, a government official says.

Jakarta – The Indonesian government and international agencies have agreed that as of December 31 this year, all East Timorese refugee camps in West Timor will be shut down.

Jakarta – Unsure about the outcome of reconciliation attempts by former pro-Indonesia fighters, leaders of East Timorese people in squalid camps in Belu, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), have

Jill Jolliffe, Gugleur – Gugleur has little to recommend it. Its people are subsistence farmers and the maize crop has failed this year.

Kupang – East Timorese refugees sheltering in a number of camps in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) province will celebrate in a modest way Indonesia's 57th independence day on August 17.

Jakarta – East Timorese refugees are to vacate camps across East Nusa Tenggara by August 31, the deadline set for them to leave the shelter and receive government assistance to return t

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The threat of violence is imminent in East Nusa Tenggara province as residents in North Central Timor Regency have objected to the presence of more East Timore

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The Indonesian government has again extended the deadline for the repatriation of East Timorese refugees living in squalid camps in West Timor.

On 22 July more than a thousand East Timor refugees set off on their journey to cross the border from West Timor and return home.

The Indonesian commander of West Timor said Tuesday there were "one or two people" among his forces who "continued efforts" to derail the repatriation of East Timorese refugees, actions

Yemris Fointuna, Atambua – As many as 1,175 East Timorese refugees, or 335 families, including 35 Indonesian soldiers and civil servants, left East Nusa Tenggara on Monday for their new

Jean Philippe Chauzy (Extract) – Yesterday some 1,100 East Timorese refugees returned home to East Timor from the towns of Soe and Atambua in West Timor.

An Indonesian general admitted on Monday that some soldiers and civilians have been trying to discourage the tens of thousands of East Timorese refugees in Indonesian West Timor from re

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Hopes for East Timorese refugees to escape starvation went up in smoke in just 24 hours on Thursday as the East Nusa Tenggara administration announced it did n

Retno Sulistyowati, Jakarta – Eurico Gutteres, former commander of East-Timorese Pro-Integration Fighters, came to National Police headquarters (HQ) in Jakarta on Friday (19/7) to meet

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