Time goes behind the Bali bombing

In this week's issue :Indonesia's problems, tells the real story of Sabena's collapse, examines West African oil boom and reveals what it's like to testify against Slobodan Milosevic

LONDON: October 21, 2002: - In this week's issue of TIME magazine (on news stands today), TIME turns its attention to recent horrors in Indonesia with a package of features investigating the transformation - in the media, at least - of the region from a sleepy chain of paradise islands to the latest centre of global terror.

TIME's untangles the rhetoric and examines the realities of this troubled region. It also investigates the implications for its future stability, and that of the world, as claims and accusations are fired, CIA plots widely accepted, the Islamic card is inevitably played and al-Qaeda continues to represent the polarisation of global attitudes towards the West.

Now, more than ever, strong leadership is required, but many feel that Megawati Sukarnoputri, the third president since 1999, is not up to the task. Corruption, poverty and lawlessness, along with 40 million unemployed, remain features of a society which needed firm guidance long before October 12th 2002, and many feel let down by their president.

While the U.S. investigates potential links between Indonesia's homegrown extremists and al-Qaeda, TIME provides a dateline of terrorist action leading up to October 12th that identifies the Bali bomb as one in a long list of events, rather than a shocking one-off bolt from the blue.

TIME also secures a telling interview with Amien Rais, chairman of Indonesia's highest legislative body - The People's Consultative Assembly - and a man who wields considerable clout within political parties, who considers recent events "A matter of life and death for the future of this republic".

These special Indonesian reports provide a remarkable portrait of the latest location to be indelibly linked with the burgeoning war on terror.

Also in this week's issue, TIME looks at the real reasons Belgian airline Sabena took the plunge, and finds that the descent may have started long before September 11.

In late 1997, Sabena put in an order for 34 new Airbus planes, at a price of around $1 billion. But was this the act of a thriving business with a sound expansion strategy or just the latest of many bizarre decisions that simply didn't add up, by a business with a less than salubrious history?

TIME talks to those involved in a period of bizarre corporate decisions and discovers that in reality terrorism didn't kill Sabena - corporate misconduct did.

TIME also turns its attentions to Africa and examines the latest rush for oil in West Africa. The tiny nation of Equatorial Guinea has struck black gold in a big way, and the U.S. " in search of alternative reliable oil suppliers outside of the Middle East " is very interested.

This is a bonanza that is being repeated across the region, underlined by the experiences of Chad - one of the poorest countries in the world - who will soon start pumping more than 200,000 barrels a day through a $3.7 billion, 1,070km pipeline - Africa's biggest ever infrastructure project.

While some comment on the strategic implications for the region, and even suspect the building of a U.S. military base to protect its growing interests, others voice concern about the enormous capital projects destroying precious rainforests.

But perhaps the strongest basis for concern can be found in Nigeria, the oil-rich country which many feel has been a victim of that common African malaise - corruption - that prevents any windfall from reaching the people who really need it.

Also in this week's TIME, Dejan Anastasijevic, TIME's long-serving correspondent in Belgrade, describes the experience of facing Slobodan Milosevic at the International Criminal Tribunal for War Crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

Dejan's news articles from that period form part of the prosecution's case, but as a print journalist he was nervous at standing up in front of his countrymen on TV (not to mention supporters of Milosevic). In the event, Dejan was surprised to find that the accused was smaller than he remembered - "like a grumpy old man".

The international editions of TIME magazine are published specifically for readers outside of the United States. There are four regional publications covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Asia; the South Pacific and Canada. Each edition offers readers access to Time Inc.'s global resources with regional, relevant stories.

TIME is Europe's leading weekly newsmagazine, with a circulation of 600,090 across EMEA and 315,000 in Asia. Founded in 1923, TIME's worldwide circulation is more than 5.6 million.

For further information please contact:

Emma Gilpin

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Time & Fortune Group

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Email: emma_gilpin@timeinc.com