Jakarta – The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is to focus its assistance on three poll monitoring networks considered among the most prepared in their programs.

UNDP advisor Erna Witoelar identified them on Monday as the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), the University Network for Free and Fair Elections (Unfrel) and the Rectors Forum.

Peter Cole-Adams – Hundreds of Australians may be involved in monitoring, administrative support and policing in East Timor within months as part of a United Nations-sponsored international effort.

Robert Garran – Australian troops, police and civilians are likely to be sent to East Timor early next year as the backbone of a UN peacekeeping force up to 2000-strong.

Jakarta – Two people were killed and a house torched in fresh violence between two ethnic groups in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, police said Tuesday.

"Two people were killed yesterday [Monday] in Pemangkat subdistrict 30 kilometers north of Sambas at three in the morning," Sergeant Major Pranoto of Singkawang district police in Sambas told AFP.

Ambon – The riot-torn Indonesian city of Ambon was gripped by tension Tuesday, with troops posted at key trouble spots amid rumours Moslems were gearing up for a protest and the discovery of the bodies of a man and a woman stabbed to death.

Jakarta – Police arrested some 35 students taking part in demonstrations here Monday to demand a faster investigation of former president Suharto.

In one demonstration outside the forestry ministry, next to the parliament building, 35 students from the Protesting People's Action Alliance (Alarm) called for Suharto to face trial.

Christine T. Tjandraningsih, Jakarta – The Indonesian House of Representatives on Monday revoked a much-criticized law made by former President Suharto, that has been a barrier for more than a decade to amending the country's 1945 Constitution.

Jakarta – The UN secretary general's special envoy on East Timor, Jamsheed Marker, Monday said he felt fears of a civil war erupting in East Timor over an independence offer from Indonesia were ill-founded.

Jakarta – The leader of Indonesia's largest Moslem group Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has ordered his followers to vote for the group's political party in the June election, local newspapers reported on Monday.

Jakarta – A mob of loyalists to popular Indonesian opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputi's beat up the chief of a rival state backed party which she used to lead, reports said Monday.

Jakarta – Indonesia will send 1,000 more troops to Ambon and neighbouring islands in Maluku province where more than 150 people have died in Moslem-Christian violence since mid-January, reports said Monday.

"They will reach here in a short time," Colonel Karel Ralahalu, chief of the Pattimura military command overseeing Ambon, was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post.

Special UN troops are likely to be sent to East Timor in March to disarm pro-integration and anti-integration civilian groups. It is evident that as long as arms are in the hands of civilan groups, shooting and killings will continue.

Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Suharto is to sue popular reform politician Amien Rais and two other people for defamation, a report said Saturday

"Pak Harto (a popular appelation for Suharto) can no longer stand it, being insulted by those figures," Suharto lawyer Muhammad Assegaf was quoted by the Media Indonesia daily as saying.

Jakarta – The political party founded by independent labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan yesterday announced it will nominate opposition figurehead Megawati Soekarnoputri for the presidency.

After nearly 25 years of violent friction between Jakarta and East Timor freedom fighters, the suddenly frank dialogue between the rival sides in recent days has been remarkable. It started when President B.J. Habibie commented in late January that he would recommend to Indonesia's next legislature that East Timor be granted independence if an offer of autonomy was rejected.

Jakarta – The Indonesian authorities registered 141 Indonesian political parties in the first stage of filtering down numbers for the country's key June 7 national election, reports said Friday.

Jakarta – Community leaders from the far-eastern Indonesian province of Irian Jaya met President B.J. Habibie on Friday, some asking for independence for the resource-rich western half of New Guinea island.

But the 100-strong delegation was split, with some members instead pushing for autonomy within Indonesia instead.

Geoffrey Barker, Bali – "We have crossed the Rubicon. We are relaxed ... We have put every card on the table. There has been a sea change in the Indonesian position. We are not afraid."

Dili – Several thousand pro-independence supporters marched solemnly Thursday in East Timor's capital of Dili with the bodies of two activists who were slain in a clash.

Violence between rival groups has escalated in the former Portuguese colony since Indonesia offered last month to consider independence for the territory if the East Timorese reject an autonomy offer.

Ambon – About 700 people Friday held protests against security shootings on civilians here as Moslem-Christian violence that has so far claimed at least 18 lives entered its fourth day.

Ambon – Boats carrying hundreds of refugees left a riot-torn Indonesian town today after deadly fighting between Muslims and Christians. At least 24 people have died in unrest in the region this week, a newspaper reported.

Jakarta – After a meeting between three [government] bodies on Wednesday afternoon (24/2), the State Intelligence Coordinating Body (Bakin), the Department of Justice Political Party Registration Council (Depkeh) and the Political General Directorate of the Department of Home Affairs (Depdagri), the People's Democratic Party (PRD), has been officially registered as a political party

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – Pressure is mounting on President B.J. Habibie to clarify the substance of an alleged telephone conversation with his Attorney-General over investigations into former leader Suharto's wealth, as a senior opposition figure called for a parliamentary probe which could lead to impeachment proceedings.

Karen Polglaze, Jakarta – Australia and Indonesia now shared policy positions on the troubled territory of East Timor, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in Jakarta today.

Jakarta – Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he discussed with East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao ways to reduce the violence in the province.

Dili – After being dogged by waves of conflict, East Timorese figures from both the pro-integration and pro-independence sides yesterday signed the Peace Declaration of the East Timorese for Peace Association (KOTBD) in Dili, witnessed by Tamrad Samuel, representing the UN Secretary-General's special envoy for East Timor, Jamsheed Marker.

Jakarta – Two pro-Indonesian East Timorese militia leaders Thursday sent a blunt warning to Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer threatening the lives of Australian diplomats and journalists.

[The following is a statement by Nobel Peace Laureate, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, on Indonesia orchestrated violence in East Timor.]

On 28 January 1999, Parliament adopted three laws to replace the five political laws promulgated in 1985. The laws are about the elections, political parties and the composition of the parliament, the people's consultative assembly and the regional assemblies.

[The following is a statement by the President of the CNRT, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, Commander of Falintil on Indonesia orchestrated violence in East Timor.]

Jakarta – Once again we are being forced to shed tears of blood, but each drop of blood must motivate us to fight for peace!

Jakarta – It is truly difficult to differentiate the Suharto New Order with the Habibie "Reform" Order.

Jakarta – Shoot-on-sight orders were issued to police as the death toll in fresh violence between two ethnic groups in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan rose to five when a mob attacked a police post, reports and police said Wednesday.

Jakarta – East Timorese guerrilla leader Xanana Gusmao will be allowed to leave the Jakarta residence where he is kept under house arrest for talks on the future of his bloodied homeland, an Indonesian official said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Minister of Defense/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto said on Tuesday he would summon Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, former chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), to question' him about a meeting at Kostrad headquarters one day after violent rioting in the capital.

Yusuf Puteh, the chair of the East Aceh Human Rights Forum (FP-HAM Aceh Timur) said his organisation believes that dozens of bodies are still lying at the bottom of Arakundo River, victims of the killings in Idi Cut on 3 February.

Jakarta – More than 1,000 workers at an Indonesian household appliances company were laid off after staging a nine-day protest in the eastern city of Surabaya to demand pay rises, legal aid officers and press reports said Wednesday.

Jakarta – An Indonesian rights groups on Wednesday alleged that a military court martial of 11 officers was being rigged to avoid prosecuting a son-in-law of former president Suharto, a release said.

Dili – Four people have been killed and five wounded in separate incidents in the East Timor districts of Maubara and Balibo, a top East Timorese resistance official told Lusa Tuesday.

[The following is a translation by US based human rights activist, John Rossa, of reports from the Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission in Dili, East Timor.]

Bandung – Student leaders agreed on Sunday after a three-day meeting to support the upcoming general election, which they have deemed unfair for being based on defective political laws, as they said to call off the election would lead to more trouble.

Canberra – Irian Jaya's expectations of self determination had been raised by a softening of Indonesia's stance on East Timor, a leading church official said today.

Executive member of the World Council of Churches, Clement John, said he had perceived a definite change in expectation in a recent trip to Irian Jaya.

Nusa Dua – Indonesia has agreed to allow Australia to reopen a consulate in East Timor as part of a push to settle the future of the troubled territory, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Wednesday.

Jeremy Wagstaff, Legok – The inhabitants of this flyblown hamlet are angry. They are angry about rising prices, the lack of jobs, and lingering government corruption, says village headman Effendi bin Musa. They are even annoyed with the ineffectiveness of Mr. Effendi himself, he concedes. But what really made the feathers fly was the price of chickens.

Jonathan Head, Ambon – One man has been killed and seven injured on the Indonesian island of Ambon after the security forces opened fire during renewed inter-religious fighting.

The clash broke out after two Muslim-owned houses were burnt down in the city of Ambon.

Jakarta – An Indonesian military court on Monday sentenced four soldiers to between 24 and 30 months jail for torturing civilian detainees in Aceh province, a report said.

Jakarta – A son of former President Suharto has been charged with corruption, along with a former senior official and another businessman, an Indonesian official said Monday.

Jakarta – A mass fight between two neighbouring villages in West Java left one man dead, eight others injured and more than 100 houses damaged, a report said here Monday.

The fight between people from Danamulya and Kedungsana villages in the Cirebon district on the northern coast of West Java erupted on Friday, the Suara Karya daily said.

Jakarta – Politicians, public figures and university rectors in Central Java have recommended that parties be permitted to campaign on campuses in the run-up to the June 7 general election.

The agreement was reached in a discussion at Amanda Hotel in Bandungan city over the weekend. It was attended by representatives of 112 universities in the province.

Ujungpandang – Regional police chiefs in Indonesia will be sacked if they defy an order from Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander General Wiranto to shoot rioters and criminals on the spot, says an official.

National Police Chief General Roesmanhadi yesterday said all military personnel must obey all instructions issued by their superiors.

Kasa – About 1,500 pro-Indonesian demonstrators rallied Monday in East Timor to voice their support for autonomy and rejection of independence for the troubled territory.

Tensions have been rising in the former Portuguese colony amid fears of an escalation in fighting between groups that want to stay part of Indonesia or break away from it.