The ETHRC has received an urgent appeal from Baucau, East Timor, where 85 East Timorese people were arrested between 5 June and 16 June 1997. One ETHRC source has reported that the 85 are still in detention at Kodim headquarters in Baucau, however this is still unconfirmed and it is not known how many of the 85 are still detained.

We have good reason to believe that the Baucau commander of the East Timor armed Resistance, David Alex, is still alive contrary to claims by the Indonesian armed forces (Abri) that he was killed in a battle.

We are deeply concerned over the safety of five East Timorese arrested together with the Baucau commander of the East Timor armed Resistance, David Alex. Indonesian authorities refuse to disclose their whereabouts and our sources indicate they might be detained in the Rumah Merah Indonesian military torture installation in Baucau.

There is currently a climate of fear in East Timor with the launch of a sweep-up operation, called Gerakan Tuntas (Annihilation Campaign) , by the Indonesian armed forces (Abri). We have received numerous phone calls, from the territory, with the callers telling us of heavy movements of Indonesian troops in the towns of Liquica and Baucau and the capital Dili.

Military claims that East Timorese armed resistance leader, David Alex, died yesterday while in the custody of the Indonesian military again raises the immediate need for independent human rights monitors to have access to the country, Amnesty International said today.

Three men, Virgilio dos Santos Pinto, Cancio da Costa and Gil Fernandes, arrested on or around 14 June 1997, are believed to be in military custody in the town of Los Palos, East Timor, where they are at serious risk of torture or ill-treatment.

Jakarta – On the eve of U.N. sponsored peace talks in New York, Indonesian military commanders in East Timor on Thursday vowed to crack down on what they described as increasingly "brutal" tactics employed by the disputed region's separatists, a local newspaper reported.

We have received an urgent warning from a reliable source in Indonesia that the Indonesian Armed Forces (Abri), are planning an all-out offensive beginning this Friday, June 20, against East Timorese who are suspected to be associated with the Resista nce against Indonesia's illegal occupation of East Timor.

Farhan Haq, United Nations – Indonesian troops have stepped up a campaign of arrests and atrocities against the civilian population in East Timor, pro-Timorese activists and human rights groups argue.

The 'East Timorese Students Movement for Peace' (METLP) distributed a document addressed to the Head of the Parliament of Indonesia on Monday 16 June. In conjunction with this, a rally of East Timorese students has been organised at the regional Parliament in Surabaya at 10.00 am.

The East Timor Action Network (ETAN) plans to intensify its congressional lobbying campaign in the aftermath of a flury of activity related to Indonesia in the US House of Representatives this past week.

Dili – Col. Salamat Sidabutar took over his new post as chief of the Wiradharma military command yesterday and pledged to crack down harder on Fretilin separatists.

Dili – On the outskirts of Baucau near the military airport, two stones on the road mark the place where Amaro Belo, a 35-year-old East Timorese, was gunned down by troops of the Indonesian Special Forces (Kopassus) last Friday night at 6pm.

Geneva – The UN Development Programme mistakenly included East Timor in a item on Indonesia in a 1997 report, a spokeswoman said here Friday, stressing that the UN has never recognized the annexation of the former Portuguese colony.

Sydney – Indonesian security forces killed on June 9 an East Timorese youth in the province of Viqueque, after accusing him of collaborating with the local resistance self-determination movement, a source has told Lusa.

Jakarta – An Indonesian court in troubled East Timor has jailed a youth to six months and 15 days for involvement in violence in the main town of Dili on Christmas eve, a report said Wednesday.

Jakarta – One of four men arrested in connection with a market fire in the East Timor capital Dili has been implicated in an attack on a truck last month which left 17 policemen dead, police said.

Jakarta – Indonesian security officers have so far captured 120 members of the separatist guerrilla movement in troubled East Timor after a recent surge of violence over the country's general election period, the official Antara news agency reported on Sunday.

Dili – Four out of six members of GPK from Baucau and Viqueque, Timor Timur, who had been caught to have torched a public market (Old Mercado) in Dili causing 500 kiosks to burn on Saturday (June 6) were successfuly arrested by personnel of Timor Timur's criminal police bureau.

East Timorese resistance leader Jose Ramos Horta has condemned any targeting of civilians by the resistance movement.

He made the comment after allegations that nine civilians were killed by the guerillas in East Timor, in what could be a dramatic change in tactics used in the conflict.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) holds grave fears for the safety of seven East Timorese men arrested between 29 and 30 May, 1997, in the sub-district of Atabae, Bobonaro. The arrests are believed to be part of the repercussions which have followed the wave of violence surrounding the the recent Indonesian election.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) has received further information about David Dias Ximenes who was arrested on 31 May at his home in Dili. An ETHRC source has confirmed that a warrant was issued for Ximenes' arrest and that he has now had access to legal representation.

New York – We have received new information about the killing of seven civilians at the home of Castelho, a teacher at the local elementary school in Irara, Los Palos, East Timor, that raises questions about the identity of the attackers.

Jakarta – Human Rights Watch/Asia on Thursday voiced concern over what it described as widespread arrests of civilians and dissidents in East Timor by Indonesian security officers after recent guerrilla attacks.

Darwin – Twelve people have been killed and more than 200 arrested in the town of Baucau in the past two days, East Timorese activists said yesterday.

More deaths and arrests were suspected in the capital Dili, as well as in Los Palos.

Students and primary school teachers were among those arrested following rebel attacks against Indonesian forces.

The East Timorese armed resistance is very much alive, despite the propaganda claims by the Indonesian armed forces in the Suharto regime that the independence fighters have all been decimated. Over the weekend, East Timor independence fighters killed at least 18 Indonesian police in a highway ambush.

A series of attacks between May 27 and May 31 by resistance forces in East Timor, leading to the deaths of at least nine civilians and more than twenty military and police, has led to widespread arrests of suspected resistance supporters throughout the territory.

[ETAN/US received the following document as a fax, in English, from the resistance in East Timor. This is the first direct report we have seen giving the East Timorese internal resistance's view of recent events.

Cologne, Germany – East Timor resistance spokesman Ramos Horta said Monday a bloody weekend rebel attack is a warning to the Indonesian authorities to negotiate a solution through the United Nations.

Three East Timorese refugees took part in further nonviolent resistance to British weapons exports to Indonesia at the beginning of May, painting various half-assembled armoured vehicles with the message, "NOT FOR EXPORT TO INDONESIA."

Jakarta – Indonesia on Saturday replaced its army commander in the heavily militarised province of East Timor, days after the deadliest wave of violence in the territory in recent years, the Antara news agency reported.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) has received further information in relation to Joao Guterres (also known as Mau-Lana), aged 28, who was reported missing following his arrest on 15 May, 1997, in the district of Baucau.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) holds grave fears for the safety of Julio Gomes, 18, from Luca village in the district of Viqueque, who has been missing since his arrest on 4 April 1997.

Jim Della-Giacoma, Jakarta – At least 14 people died in a wave of election-eve violence in East Timor and as million of Indonesians voted on Thursday the toll rose when rebels killed a soldier guarding a polling boooth.

Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Millions of Indonesians went to the polls for general parliamentary elections Thursday. As Jenny Grant reports from Jakarta, balloting was marred by election-eve violence in the disputed territory of East Timor, where at least 13 people were shot dead.

Indonesian authorities say at least 15 people have died in East Timor, in a series of attacks by suspected separatist rebels.

Michael Maher reports that the violence occurred ahead of elections held throughout Indonesia today.

Lisbon – The Portuguese government said on Wednesday it was trying to verify a report of shooting incidents in the East Timorese capital of Dili involving Timorese guerrillas and Indonesian soldiers.

Jakarta – Two Indonesian policemen were killed and four injured after rebels attacked their convoy in the troubled territory of East Timor, church and hospital sources said on Wednesday.

Police and military officials could not be reached for comment.

Jakarta – Separatist (sic) rebels in East Timor killed two Indonesian policemen and wounded seven in an ambush Tuesday, according to an official who declined to be named

He said 18 police in two trucks were ambushed by about ten rebels in Lega district 160 kilometers east of the East Timor capital, Dili. After a skirmish, the rebels fled to nearby mountains.

Lisbon – The special representative of the National Council for Maubere Resistance (CNRM) does not believe that the forthcoming round of talks between Portugal and Indonesia on East Timor will produce any concrete results.

Thirty-three of those arrested during a demonstration on 23 March 1997 at the Mahkota Hotel in Dili, East Timor during a visit to the territory by the United Nations Secretary-General's Personal Representative, Mr Jamsheed Marker, are detained in custody awaiting trial. It was previously believed that only 24 remained in custody.

The East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) holds grave fears for the safety of four East Timorese men who were arrested on 30 March 1997 in the sub-district of Atabae, Bobonaro, by members of the SGI (Special Intelligence Unit) and Kopassus (Special Forces Command).

Eleven activists, including three East Timorese and a journalist, were arrested early today Monday when they entered a factory site in the south of England to protest against the export of armoured vehicles to Indonesia. Seven were released after being held by police for fifteen hours but the three East Timorese and the journalist are still in custody.

According to an unconfirmed report, at about 4.30pm on 21 April 1997 members of the security forces shot and arrested Edison Marcal Dias Freitas, an East Timorese man from Santa Cruz in Dili. On 23 April, relatives went to the police station in Dili to inquire as to his whereabouts and state of health, but without success. Since then there has been no more information.

On May 2, the Full Federal Court has set aside a decision of the Refugee Review Tribunal that East Timorese refugee, Jong Kim Koe, was not a refugee under the international Refugees Convention to which Australia is a party. The Tribunal will now need to re-hear the case.

Eyal Press – Never underestimate the power of partisanship to alter the consciousness of America's pundits and policymakers.

Dili – Four men have been arrested in the killing of a member of Indonesia's ruling Golkar party during an election meeting in East Timor, police said Monday.

The arrests brought to six the number of men held in connection with the killing Sunday of Alsino da Costa, 29. It was the only violence on the first day of the official campaign period for May 29 general elections.

Jakarta – Five East Timorese, including a junior high school student, have gone on trial in the territory in connection with the death of a soldier on a Christmas eve, Indonesia's official Antara news agency reported on Sunday.

Antara said the trial of the defendants, aged between 17 and 22, started on Saturday in Dili, East Timor's capital, under tight security.

Eighteen people believed to have been detained in East Timor on suspicion of links with the armed resistance in East Timor, Falintil, are feared to be at risk of torture or ill-treatment in custody.

Henk Bouwmans (Original in Dutch, translation by TAPOL), The Hague – The Dutch Parliament is furious about a letter from the Indonesian embassy about the East Timorese human rights activist and Nobel Laureate Jose Ramos Horta. In the letter Ramos Horta is accused of acting purely for personal ambitions by setting up a government in exile.