Canberra – Australia said on Friday it appeared the Indonesian military was becoming less involved with East Timor's pro-Jakarta militias, accused by the United States of intimidation ahead of an August independence ballot.

Canberra – The United States denied a newspaper report Tuesday that it told Australian defense strategists in June it would consider deploying up to 15,000 troops to East Timor if bloodshed escalated there.

Paul Daley, Canberra – American military officials told Australian defence strategists in June that the US would consider deploying up to 15,000 troops to East Timor, if bloodshed dramatically escalated in the troubled Indonesian province.

Dili – Indonesian opposition leader and presidential front-runner Megawati Sukarnoputri on Tuesday appealed to supporters in East Timor to vote for autonomy rather than independence in the territory's August 30 referendum.

Sydney – Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was accused Tuesday of deceit after being forced to admit he was wrong to deny that US officials had suggested Australian participation in a peacekeeping force for East Timor.

Manila – Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas on Monday called "a myth" statements by East Timor's resistance leaders that the territory would vote overwhelmingly for independence if this month's ballot on self-rule was free.

Dili – Representatives from East Timor's rival political factions on Monday agreed to commit themselves and their supporters to a peaceful referendum campaign in the lead-up to a self-determination ballot scheduled for August 30.

Mark Riley, New York – The United Nations plans to withdraw completely from East Timor if the territory threatens to dissolve into civil war after this month's autonomy ballot.

This would leave the Indonesian Army in control of the region, irrespective of whether the people vote for independence or to become an autonomous state within Indonesia.

Prapan Chankaew, Dili – Indonesian ministers insisted during a visit to East Timor on Saturday that Jakarta could ensure security despite attacks on UN staff and fears of chaos after an August 30 independence ballot.

David Shanks – The Indonesian military is "openly and clearly distributing guns in the eastern towns of Baucau, Laga and other places. They are turning Timorese against Timorese. It is like hell," the Nobel laureate, Bishop Carlos Ximines Belo, said yesterday.

Jakarta – Pro-Indonesia East Timorese militia on Friday attacked a group of students in a church in the township of Same, injuring one of them seriously, a foreign observer group said.

Lindsay Murdoch in Dili and Malcolm Brown – An American doctor credited with saving the lives of scores of East Timorese attacked by pro-Jakarta militias in Dili has been refused entry to Indonesia and put on a flight to Darwin.

A meeting of top military, police, pro-autonomy and paramilitary leaders, in East Timor, has planned a guerrilla war if the autonomy plan is rejected at the vote on the territory's future on Aug 30. Also the miltias have been instructed to use violent means to disrupt voting, with the help of the Indonesian military (TNI) and the police.

Vaudine England, Dili – Pressure to increase the number of UN civilian police officers is increasing in the wake of persistent reports of pro-integration militias preparing for conflict.

John Martinkus, East Timor – They came in a snaking line across the high mountain pass. Exhausted but laughing, relieved to be at the end of a harrowing 20 kilometre walk.

[The following Memo was prepared by Tapol to reveal how the British Government continues to trot out totally misleading statements about the use of Hawk aircraft in East Timor.]

Dili – The Indonesian military continues to support militias that are harassing and intimidating East Timorese ahead of an independence vote, an agency headed by former US President Jimmy Carter said Tuesday.

Dili – The United Nations Monday declared the registration process for East Timor's August 30 ballot on independence a success, saying it had already registered almost all the expected voters.

Tjitschke Linksma looks at the plight of East Timor refugees after travelling with a UN convoy which brought one group their first consignment of aid in weeks.

Gwen Robinson, Sydney – The Australian government has stepped up its diplomatic involvement in the politically troubled regions of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, following visits by top officials to East Timor and PNG in the past few days.

[The following is an excerpt from the July 29 speach by Megawati Soekarnoputri "The People's Victory in the Election of 1999" on the issue of the East Timor ballot.]

Dili – Two gunmen, reportedly members of the pro-Indonesia militia, shot dead a man in East Timor on Sunday, prompting an angry crowd to set fire to the house of a known militia member.

Angelino Amaral, 24, was shot in the street not far from his home in the Taibesi district of the territory's capital Dili before dawn following a traffic accident, witnesses said.

Mark Riley, New York – The United Nations is drafting plans for an administration to rule East Timor for up to four years if, as expected, the territory votes to break away from Indonesia.

Tim Johnston, Dili – Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Friday the opposing factions in East Timor should share power after the August 30 ballot on independence.

But Downer, in the East Timor capital for a 24-hour visit, said there were "enormous risks ahead" before, during and after the UN-run ballot.

Dili – The arrest of a gun-toting militia member at a United Nations registration post Thursday was the latest in a series of violent incidents in this Indonesian-ruled territory this week.

"There just seems to be a general upsurge of activity over the last four days," a well-informed local source said.

Jacinto Alves spent seven years in prison for organising a peaceful demonstration at the funeral of a separatist sympathiser in Dili in 1991. Indonesian troops opened fire on the crowd of East Timorese, killing between 100 and 180 people in the bloodbath that became known as the Dili massacre.

Lindsay Murdoch, Dili – Indonesia is strongly resisting United Nations pressure to further delay a ballot to decide the future of East Timor after boosting the number of police in the territory to 8,000.

Craig Skehan, Singapore – Australia is urging Indonesia and the United Nations to consider upgrading security in East Timor in case violence worsens after next month's planned self-determination ballot.

Mark Dodd, Dili – An attack against the United Nations office in the East Timorese town of Maliana last month was organised by a shadowy network of militia and army officers, according to information received by the Herald.

Marianne Kearney, Dili – Armed militiamen in Maubisse, 70 km south of here, are patrolling the streets and threatening villagers with death if they vote for independence.

Mike Head – The United States and the World Bank have both threatened Indonesia with diplomatic and financial retaliation if the Jakarta regime continues to support militia attacks on people in East Timor, in the lead-up to next month's scheduled UN-supervised ballot on autonomy or secession.

Jakarta – The World Bank said on Wednesday international donors to Indonesia would be closely watching the situation in disputed East Timor and could change their stance if a UN-supervised independence ballot was disrupted.

Dili – The intimidation of voters is rampant in East Timor and there has been no significant improvement in security, the independent Carter Center poll monitoring organization said Tuesday.

"An atmosphere of violence, intimidation and insecurity continues to pervade most areas of East Timor," the center said in its first report on the East Timor situation.

Sydney – Indonesia is preparing for a massive post-ballot slaughter in East Timor – exacting retribution in blood on East Timorese for refusing to bow to the reign of terror and vote for the integration of their country into Indonesia.

Dili – A confidential Indonesian government report predicts social chaos in East Timor as Indonesians flee following an expected vote in favour of independence in August.

Sugianto Tandra, Balibo – A leader of a pro-Indonesia East Timor militia unit said Saturday he has been ordered to make guns in case East Timorese reject autonomy within Indonesia in a late-August UN-sponsored referendum.

Sugianto Tandra, Balibo – The UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) is facing its first protest over voter registration for an August ballot on the territory's future as pro-Indonesia figures criticized Saturday registration requirements as being "unreasonably strict."

Mark Dodd, Dili – Despite nagging security concerns, the United Nations gave its qualified approval yesterday to start voter registration in East Timor, less than six weeks before its planned vote on self-determination.

Dili – UN blue berets and volunteers on Friday opened voter registration for the landmark poll on the future of East Timor, but the start was marred by the after effects of a violent militia attack.

Jakarta – Some 2,250 East Timorese living elsewhere in Indonesia are expected to register for August's vote on the territory's future, an independent East Timorese youth group said here Friday.

Geoff Spencer, Suai – Bloodshed marred the start of voter registration in East Timor for a UN-supervised ballot on independence for the Indonesian province, UN officials said today.

Witnesses said anti-independence militiamen attacked independence supporters Thursday night in the village of Salasa, about 60 miles southwest of the provincial capital of Dili.

Liquisa – Hundreds of people braved pro-Indonesia militia intimidation in this traumatized district to register Friday for a vote on East Timor's future.

A skull-and-crossbones had been painted on the window of one registration centre when 500 local residents showed up hoping to get on the voters' list at 9am, a source with the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) said.

United Nations – The UN Security Council today called on Jakarta to make 'concrete progress' in improving the security situation in East Timor to ensure the holding of a landmark ballot on schedule.

Jakarta – US relations with Indonesia could suffer if ongoing violence derails a planned vote on self-determination in East Timor, a senior US government official said here Wednesday.

Don Greenlees (Jakarta) and Sian Powell (Dili) – Almost half the Indonesian Cabinet flew into East Timor yesterday in a dramatic bid by Jakarta to quell growing international anger over its failure to maintain security ahead of the UN-sponsored ballot on autonomy.

Don Greenlees, Jakarta – East Timor militia leader Eurico Guterres was due to meet UN envoy Francesc Vendrell in Dili on Saturday. He didn't show up. The UN was led to believe Guterres instead went to see Governor Abilio Soares, a man with whom he has regular contact.

David Jenkins – It is Sunday afternoon in Jakarta and a colleague of Xanana Gusmao is sitting in a deserted hotel lounge discussing political developments in East Timor.

As she outlines the hopes and plans of the pro-independence movement, a solidly built Indonesian in jeans and a checked shirt appears out of nowhere and slips onto a couch beside us.

Peter Hartcher and Tim Dodd – Australia and the US have intelligence that proves that the high command of the Indonesian army and a group of Indonesian Cabinet ministers are complicit in the violence racking East Timor.

Jakarta – The chief of the UN Mission in East Timor asked the Indonesian armed forces on Wednesday to rein in pro-Indonesian militia before a planned vote on self-determination there next month.

With the rise of militia activity in a number of regencies in the last eight months has led to an increase in violence perpetrated against the general population. Many have become victims of killings, detention, rape, torture, looting, losing their homes and their entire possesions when their houses are burned by militia.