An army whistleblower today found some backing for his claims after a government review found Australian troops in East Timor had been cut off from top secret information.
Late today, Defence Minister Robert Hill released details of a review by Inspector General of Intelligence and Security Ian Carnell into claims by army officer Lance Collins.
Nigel Wilson – John McCarthy, Australia's ambassador to Indonesia at the time of the Australian-led peacekeeping mission in 1999, yesterday confirmed Indonesia was critical of Australia's argument on maritime boundaries.
Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Over 270 people, who were deported from East Timor, were moved into a dormitory belonging to East Nusa Tenggara's Manpower and Transmigration Office in Kupang on Thursday.
Reporter: Anne Barker
Mark Colvin: A court in East Timor has jailed a former pro-Indonesia militia leader to 15 years jail for murder and crimes against humanity.
Dili – East Timor's human rights court has sentenced a senior member of a pro-Jakarta militia to 15 years in prison for organizing an attack on the house of an independence leader's house which left a dozen people dead.
Jean-Pierre Catry – Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, told the Security Council this year that: "Limited revenue and widespread poverty within the country continue to pose severe constraints on Timor-Leste's social and economic development.
Jakarta – The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) here Wednesday condemned the expulsion of 253 Moslems from East Timor, saying the action was a violation of the Moslems' human rights.
Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – After five hours of immigration checks in Motaain, on the border of East Timor and Indonesia, 62 people were deported from the neighboring country, finally arriving on Monday evening in Atambua, the capital of Belu regency in East Nusa Tenggara.
Cynthia Banham – The East Timorese Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos-Horta, has accused Australian officials of attempted blackmail during recent negotiations over the new nation's maritime boundaries.
Mark Dodd – An Australian businessman working in East Timor has been found guilty by the World Bank of corruption in connection with the procurement of school equipment for the impoverished country.
Eight former pro-Jakarta militiamen have been jailed in East Timor for crimes against humanity committed in the mayhem surrounding a 1999 UN-backed vote that led to the country's separation from Indonesia.
A special court Thursday convicted the eight of abducting and torturing two independence supporters in Dili in May 1999.
Reporter: Mark Colvin
Mark Colvin: East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, says the relationship between his country and Australia seems to be at its lowest point since the liberation in 1999.
Tom Noble, Dili – East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao wants Australia to be fairer in negotiations over disputed oil and gas reserves, saying the delays are profoundly affecting the new nation's economy and it was "a matter of life and death for the state we are building".
East Timor President Xanana Gusmao warned Friday his emerging nation still faces the threat of incursions by armed militias, most likely from Indonesia's West Timor.
Mark Dodd, Darwin – The chief investigator of the Bali bombings, Inspector-General Made Mangku Pastika, is himself under investigation for East Timor war crimes.
Dili – Eight East Timorese anti-independence militiamen have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from four to eight years for crimes against humanity committed in 1999, Dili's UN- backed Serious Crimes Unit (SCU) announced Monday.
Have successive Australian governments been lapdogs to the Indonesian military in their assessment of the impact of East Timorese independence on the interests of Indonesia? Clinton Fernandes, a former military intelligence officer and now a historian, certainly thinks so.
Rod Mcguirk, Canberra – A senior East Timorese official Thursday lamented the likely scrapping of a $5 billion natural gas project in the Timor Sea because of a deadlocked border dispute with Australia.
Lachlan Colquhoun in Sydney and Shawn Donnan in Jakarta – Woodside Petroleum, Australia's biggest oil and gas producer, said on Wednesday it would halt its investment in the A$6.6bn (US$5.2bn) Sunrise project in the Timor Sea following the breakdown of talks between Australia and East Timor over how to split the revenues.
Irwin Arieff, United Nations – The Security Council extended the life of a UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor for a final six months on Tuesday after Secretary-General Kofi Annan argued the fledgling nation was still too fragile to stand up on its own.
Canberra – Australia staked its claim Tuesday to its vast undersea continental shelf, asking the United Nations to grant it rights to minerals and other resources under a tract equivalent to almost half the country's land mass.
Veronica Brooks, Canberra – East Timor's government must return to the negotiating table with more realistic expectations if a protracted maritime boundary dispute between Australia and the impoverished nation is to be resolved, Industry and Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane said Thursday.
Neither the current East Timor government nor the international community has made a particularly high priority of bringing to justice those responsible for the human rights abuses perpetrated in 1999, when East Timor broke away from Indonesia.
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office is looking into the possibility of building new cases against the military officers widely believed to have been responsible for the atrocities that occurred before and after the East Timor referendum in 1999.
Jakarta – The former governor of East Timor, Abilio Jose Osorio Soares requested that the gross human rights abuse cases in East Timor be determined through a Truth and Reconciliation Commission [KKR]. "All Indonesia has to do now is to arrange it so that what occurred before the ad-hoc human rights laws came into existence would be dealt with through KKR.
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Following the Supreme Court acquittal of former East Timor governor Abilio Soares from human rights violations, the prospect that other suspected abusers would be brought to justice has dimmed, as the Attorney General's Office (AGO) said on Monday it would not contest the decision.
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The acquittal of former East Timor governor Abilio Soares of human rights abuse highlights the flawed Indonesian human rights court and could prompt the international community to set up a tribunal to right the wrongs in the judicial process, analysts say.
Agus Supriyanto, Jakarta – Eurico Guterres, the former commander of the Pro-Integration Youth (PPI)(1), visited the Cipinang Correctional Institution to look in on former East Timorese governor Abilio Soarez, prior to the call to evening prayers on Friday November 5.
Jakarta – The acquittal of former East Timor governor Abilio Soares could further erode people's confidence in the country's commitment to justice, a senior Cabinet minister announced on Friday.
The only Indonesian jailed for abuses during East Timor's violence-marred independence vote has been cleared on appeal in a move that has angered rights groups and embarrassed the Jakarta government.
Sarah Buckley – Five years after 1,000 people died as East Timor broke away from Indonesia, almost all those responsible for the violence are still walking free.
An Indonesian court's decision on Friday to acquit East Timor's former governor Abilio Soares means only one conviction brought by Jakarta now stands.
Mari Alkatiri – The talks in Dili last week between the governments of East Timor and Australia were aimed at finding a way to resolve our overlapping maritime boundary claims in the Timor Sea, which in turn would create the environment for the Greater Sunrise oil and gas field to be developed.
The Chief of Army has admitted more than 1300 troops who served in East Timor were given an anti-malarial drug with potentially devastating side effects.
It also has been revealed hundreds of our soldiers in Timor were used to test an unauthorised drug being developed by the US Army.
Nigel Wilson – East Timor is demanding the Australian Government pay more than $2.6 billion in compensation for oil produced from Timor Sea fields since 1999.
East Timor on Friday indicted eight Indonesian soldiers and two militiamen for allegedly killing two UN election workers and attacking independence supporters during the country's bloody break from Indonesian rule in 1999.
Tom Allard – East Timor is making a last-minute attempt to secure a $3 billion liquid natural gas processing plant and pipeline on its soil as negotiations over the Timor Gap oil and gas reserves resume in Dili.
Denpasar – The president of Timor Leste, Xanana Gusmao, rejected [the idea] he was not close to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and that this would be problematic for bilateral relations. On Saturday (23 October) in Legian, Bali, Xanana said that he was optimistic that the close relations they had established would continue in the future.
Luke McIlveen – Hundreds of Australian soldiers were used as guinea pigs by the army in tests of an anti-malaria drug which has psychotic side effects while they were serving in East Timor.
On the sidelines of his visit here to attend the inauguration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri talked on Wednesday with The Jakarta Post's Veeramalla Anjaiah and Adianto P. Simamora. The following are excerpts of the interview.
Dili – Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, returning to East Timor from Jakarta Friday, said he had held successful talks with Indonesia's new president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
East Timor believes that the Starbucks seal of approval will give its key coffee industry a fillip. The world's leading retailer of speciality coffee on October 10 launched its first single-origin coffee from East Timor at Starbucks branches around Australia and New Zealand, a company spokeswoman said.
Jakarta – There has been a jump in the number of East Timorese refugees returning home from Indonesia, where they have been living since East Timor's bloody breakaway in 1999, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday.
Dili – East Timor's future oil and gas revenues must have positive effects for the world's newest nation, which is taking measures to prevent the damage that similar oil bonanzas have inflicted on other states, Prime Minster Mari Alkatiri said Monday.
Bruce Loudon – At the time, the authorities dismissed it as a straightforward case of journalists tragically caught in the crossfire.
Dili – East Timor has launched an official website to promote tourism in the world's newest nation.
The new site www.turismotimorleste.com has versions in Portuguese and English and contains key facts on Timor's history and culture, as well as information on accommodation and specialist holidays including hiking, diving and bird watching.
Peter Sweeney – Australia has been called on to give a "fairer go" to East Timor over the oilfields issue. The Federal Government has been accused of "megaphone diplomacy" in its negotiations with its battling neighbour.
East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta said Wednesday his country is to participate in the ASEAN Regional Forum for the first time in Laos next June.
The Australian Greens today challenged Labor to pledge to refer the dispute between Australia and East Timor over oil and gas reserves to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) if it wins government.
Greens Senator Bob Brown pointed to a Newspoll survey showing overwhelming support among Australians for the independent adjudicator to settle the matter.
Karen Michelmore, Darwin – Most Australians believe an independent adjudicator should decide the location of Australia's maritime boundary with East Timor if negotiations fail, a national poll found today.
East Timor Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta on Wednesday extended the former Indonesian province's congratulations to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on winning Indonesia's presidential election.