Dili – The credibility and capability of the National Commission of Human Rights (KOMNAS HAM) to find out ABRI's brutality in the University of East Timor late November 14, was in question. The uncertainty rose when Marzuki Darusman, the Commission's Vice-chairman acting as the Team Leader in a fact-finding mission, declared its findings.

Jakarta – The Indonesian authorities arrested on Tuesday a Timorese who they accused of murdering a policeman in Dili on 24 December 1996.

According to the authorities, Bobby Xavier, 27, allegedly attacked and killed policeman Alfredo Siga on the day Bishop D. Ximenes Belo returned to Dili after receiving the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.

Jon Land – The Indonesian government is refusing to allow six East Timorese sheltering for more than three months in the Austrian embassy in Jakarta to leave for Portugal. Indonesian authorities allege that two of the East Timorese have been involved in the manufacture of homemade bombs and are members of a "terrorist group".

Stuart Munckton and Arun Pradhan, Perth – On November 12, East Timorese and their supporters attended a protest at Parliament House to commemorate the 1991 Dili massacre.

Dili – Marzuki Darusman, deputy chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, who is leading a team investigating an incident in the University of East Timor on 14th November, has said there were no casualties during the incident and no members of the security disturbance movement (GPK) had infiltrated into the campus as reported by various mass media outlets.

Shocking photographs showing the alleged rape and torture of Timorese women by Indonesian soldiers were made public in Australia yesterday.

A representative of the Darwin-based East Timor International Centre (ETIC), a group opposed to Indonesia's 22-year occupation of Timor, released 40 pictures.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) has received further information about the East Timorese students who were injured and detained on 14 November during a confrontation with Indonesian security forces at the University of East Timor in Dili (see UA 26/97 for details).

Louise Williams, Jakarta – The imprisoned East Timorese independence leader, Xanana Gusmao, has been reported as taking "full responsibility" for a planned bombing campaign in the provincial capital of Dili, but has denied terrorism charges.

Jakarta – Jailed East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao admitted that he had authorized the assembling of bombs as head of the self-determination resistance movement, a lawyer who attended the police interrogation said on Wednesday.

The sixth anniversary of the Indonesian military's massacre of mourners at Dili's Santa Cruz cemetery on November 12, 1991, was commemorated in many parts of the country.

Jon Land – More than 1000 East Timorese students staged a peaceful demonstration in Dili on November 12 to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre. The protest was held at the University of East Timor, amidst a heavy security presence.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) holds grave fears for the safety of eight East Timorese students, who sustained serious gunshot wounds during a confrontation with Indonesian security forces, at the University of East Timor in Dili, on the morning of 14 November, 1997.

Sydney – At least two East Timorese died and other 16 got injured, three of them seriously, when Indonesian police and troops shoot at students in the University of Dili, a religious source told Lusa on Friday.

Jakarta – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been allowed to visit seven people injured after soldiers fired on students in an East Timor university, an ICRC official said Saturday.

Jakarta – At least one East Timorese student was killed on Friday when security personnel fired shots on a university campus in the territory's capital Dili, students said.

A military official denied there had been any deaths.

Dili – Indonesian troops fired shots into the air to disperse hundreds of students today in East Timor. At least two people were injured in scuffles with authorities, school officials said.

Student activists, who declined to give their names, said two students were killed in the violence outside the University of East Timor in Dili, about 1,250 miles east of Jakarta.

Five East Timorese students shot and wounded in a confrontation with Indonesian police in Dili, the capital of East Timor, have been taken to a military hospital. The five appear to be being denied access to humanitarian and legal assistance, raising serious concerns for their well-being in custody.

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – Indonesia deported an American woman Thursday after police arrested her for taking notes and photographs during a pro-independence protest in the disputed territory of East Timor.

Allan Thompson, Ottawa – Joao Antonio Dias said he watched Indonesian soldiers kill wounded East Timorese demonstrators by banging their heads against rocks.

Roberto Jeronimo spoke of beatings and electrical shocks to his genitals he endured while being tortured in an Indonesian prison.

Bruce Cheadle, Ottawa – Isabel Galhos, one of three East Timorese expatriates living in Canada, doesn't mince words when she describes the 22-year regime of Indonesian President Suharta.

Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta – Indonesia moved to deport a U.S. woman on Thursday after police accused her of "disturbing public order" during a ceremony marking the anniversary of a 1991 massacre of East Timor civilians by Indonesian soldiers.

On the night of November 12, 1997, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to block the use of U.S. weapons in occupied East Timor, placing an unprecedented restriction on U.S. arms sales to Indonesia. The Senate, which unanimously approved stronger language on September 5, is expected to enact the measure today.

Bangkok – Today is the sixth anniversary of the Dili massacre in East Timor when an estimated 271 people were gunned down in cold blood by Indonesian troops. Among the dead was a young Malaysian student. The Nation's Steven Gan tells his story.

Several meetings to highlight the situation in East Timor were held in Central Java on the occasion of the sixth anniversary of the Santa Cruz Massacre, 12 November 1997.

Jakarta - Xanana Gusmao told MateBEAN that he had never asked to be transferred to Nusakambangan, an Alcatraz-like prison island off the shore of Cilacap, Central Java as was stated by Thahir Abdullah a high-ranking officer from the Department of Justice

Dili – Trials began Monday for five East Timorese accused of taking part in a rebel raid on a police station on May 28.

Prosecutors allege the men were among the rebels who stormed the station in the provincial capital, Dili, stabbed two officers and then fled with police weapons. One rebel was shot dead by police.

Lospalos – Last 3 November 1997, dozens of East Timor youth conducted a demonstration in Los Palos, Lautem. The demo was a protest against the behaviour of army soldiers shooting in random when a group of Catholics passed a military post in Paioto. Los Palos on August 31.

Jakarta – Rumours said that the Indonesian military, especially the intelligence community planned to ban IMPETTU (the East Timor Students' Association) considering the fact that they cannot control the Organisations' activity anymore.

Liz Walsh – Three European ambassadors are to go to East-Timor early in the new yeras as part a new EU initiative announced in Dublin last week by British Foreign Seretary Robin Cook. The initiative comes on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the Dili massacre on Wednesday in which more than 250 civilians were shot dead by the Indonesian military which invaded the country in 1975.

Lisbon – East Timorese abroad will hold a national congress here next March, called by independence leader Xanana Gusmao, who is serving a 20-year prison term in Indonesia, resistance sources said Tuesday.

The congress is to consider a charter of rights, freedoms and guarantees to be applied in the former Portuguese colony annexed by Indonesia in 1976, they said.

On 7 August, the District Council bestowed the title of Honorary Citizen of Brasilia on the Timorese Resistance leader, Xanana Gusmao. The Ambassador of East Timor in Angola, Dr. Roque Rodrigues, received the title on behalf of Xanana Gusmao.

For the first time, clandestine East Timorese fighters are building bombs. When one went off accidentally recently it introduced a new element into the East Timor problem and underscores the urgency of a resolution. The Indonesian Foreign Ministry says the explosives were intended to kill civilians in Dili indiscriminately.

Semarang – Fifteen East Timor students from the East Timor Students' Association (IMAPTI) of Semarang had met members of Commission A (dealing with defense and security issues) of the Central Java Regional Parliament. They questioned the MPs on the bad treatment felt by four East Timor youth arrested recently by security officers.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) is concerned for the safety of up to eight East Timorese men still in detention in Semarang and Dili, for their alleged involvement in the manufacture and possession of home-made bombs (see UA 23/97 and UA 23/97PR).

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Two East Timorese men could face the death penalty if found guilty of trying to topple the Government through terrorism.

Stephen Spencer, Canberra – The federal ALP has moved to dramatically recast major areas of its foreign policy, in what it frankly admits is a recognition that some areas, in particular Indonesia and land mines, could have been handled better in government.

Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – Indonesia's military has tried to link Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient Jose Ramos Horta with an alleged terrorist group.

Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – East Timorese independence advocate and Nobel Peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta today rejected accusations by the Indonesian military that he was linked to a clandestine group accused of making bombs.

Canberra – Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta Tuesday accused the Australian government of covering up Indonesia's involvement in the deaths of five Australian journalists in East Timor 22 years ago.

Australia's 1996 investigation into the killings was seriously flawed, the leading East Timorese independence activist said, joining calls into a fresh inquiry.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) is concerned for the safety of Manuel Afonso and Lino Xavier Nunes who are currently in detention at POLRES (Regional Police Headquarters) in Dili, following their arrests in July and September 1997.

Sydney – The president of the Timorese Democratic Party (UDT) said here Sunday he was asked by the Indonesian military to kill Australian journalist Hamish McDonald in 1975.

McDonald is now foreign editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.

Don Greenlees – The Federal Government is facing a political contest over human rights after a decision by the ALP to call for the first time for a "right of self-determination" for East Timor in its new foreign affairs policy.

A report into the death of five Australia-based journalists at Balibo in East Timor 22 years ago will be examined today at a seminar at the University of NSW Law School. One man who knows just what happened at Balibo, writes Asia Editor David Jenkins, is Lieutenant-General Yunus Yosfiah, leader of the attacking force and now one of Indonesia's most influential generals.

Jacqui Birchall, East Timor – The path of most despair - Site of death and oppression since 1975, East Timor had little to offer one intrepid traveller – except perhaps the satisfying knowledge that her very presence was a burr in the side of the authorities.

Sydney – The Indonesian army has arrested in the last days dozens of youths, in several raids to villages aimed at discredit the armed rebel movement, a resistance leader told Lusa on Thursday.

Sander Thoenes and Quentin Peel, Jakarta – Indonesia may walk out of talks with Portugal over the status of East Timor unless progress is made soon, Ali Alatas, Indonesia's foreign minister, has said.

Sydney – Five Australian journalists killed in East Timor were deliberately targeted by Indonesian troops and not caught in crossfire as had been thought, a report said on the 22nd anniversary of the incident.

James Dunn – Timor watchers would have detected a touch of irony in a news item from Jakarta earlier this week.

Craig Skehan and Louise Williams – In an attempt to secure political asylum for a colleague, jailed East Timorese independence leader Xanana Gusmao has written a letter acknowledging that he authorised the making of bombs to attack military targets.

Military authorities in East Timor have seized a cache of 20 homemade bombs and detained two rebels accused of planning to destroy the territory's capital, Dili, an Indonesian newspaper reported yesterday.