East Timor could become failed state, aid agency says<\/p>\n
Reuters
\nCanberra, Dili<\/p>\n
East Timor, the world's newest nation, is in danger of becoming a
\nfailed state because Australia is dragging its feet on maritime
\nborder talks and hindering the development of its neighbor, aid
\nagency Oxfam said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
An Oxfam report released to coincide with East Timor's second
\nanniversary of independence showed less than half the nation's
\n760,000 people could read or write, 41 percent live below the
\npoverty line and one in 10 children die before the age of five.<\/p>\n
Australia and East Timor are negotiating a border in the
\nresource-rich Timor Sea. At stake are billions of dollars worth
\nof oil and gas royalties, which East Timor has vowed to use to
\nalleviate poverty, create jobs and improve education.<\/p>\n
\"Two years after independence, the Australian government's
\napproach to maritime boundary negotiations with East Timor is
\nlimiting East Timor's capacity to plan for and finance its future
\ndevelopment,\" Oxfam and Australian arm Community Aid Abroad said.<\/p>\n
\"This could push newly independent East Timor to the brink of
\nbecoming a failed state through no fault of its own,\" it said.<\/p>\n
Australia has said it is only able to meet East Timor twice a
\nyear, but East Timor wants monthly meetings in a bid to
\naccelerate maritime border talks that began last month in the
\nEast Timor capital Dili. The next meeting is set for September.<\/p>\n
\"We will continue to forge better relations with Australia but
\nwe will not have to sacrifice our interests for this,\" President
\nXanana Gusmao said in his speech in a veiled reference to the
\ndispute.<\/p>\n
At the heart of the dispute are billions of dollars worth of
\nroyalties from oil and gas reserves which lie in the waters
\nbetween Australia and East Timor.<\/p>\n
\"We want to affirm here that we continue to firmly
\nrevindicate, only, what according to international law we can
\nadmit or conclude to be ours. It is not our intention to claim
\nmore than one gram or one millimeter of what does not belong to
\nus,\" Gusmao said.<\/p>\n
Defying the scorching sun, some 1,000 East Timorese rallied
\ninside a football stadium in the seaside capital Dili during the
\nsubdued celebration.<\/p>\n
Newly formed East Timorese police and troops, marched around
\nthe field, a day after assuming full responsibility over security
\nin territory, which spans half an island.<\/p>\n
Dozens of machete-wielding tribal chiefs, clad in bright
\nyellow shirts and red headbands, also marched across the stadium
\nas bystanders decked out in traditional costumes cheered the
\nprocession.<\/p>\n
Australia denies claims it is cheating East Timor out of A$1
\nmillion (US$700,000) a day in disputed oil and gas royalties and
\nsays it has been more than generous to its tiny neighbor by
\ngiving it 90 percent of royalties from a joint development area.<\/p>\n
A year ago the two countries agreed to a revenue sharing Timor
\nSea Treaty for a shared 62,000 square-km region that splits
\nroyalties 90:10 in favor of East Timor until a permanent maritime
\nboundary is negotiated.<\/p>\n
East Timor, which gained independence in 2002 after a quarter
\nof a century of often brutal Indonesian rule, wants negotiations
\non a maritime border completed in three to five years. Australia
\nhas refused to put a deadline on an agreement.<\/p>\n
\"They've made a very big mistake thinking the best way to
\nhandle this negotiation is by trying to shame Australia, by
\nmounting abuse on our country, accusing us of bullying, when you
\nconsider all we've done for East Timor,\" Australia's Foreign
\nMinister Alexander Downer told Australian television recently.<\/p>\n
\"We will do what we believe to be right but, of course, in our
\ninterests,\" he said.<\/p>\n
East Timor can claim a sea boundary 200 nautical miles (370
\nkm) from its coast, consistent with its entitlement under
\ninternational law and the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.<\/p>\n
But Australia can also claim a boundary 200 nautical miles
\nfrom its coast. At the closest point, the countries are about 230
\nnautical miles apart.<\/p>\n
Timor Sea gas fields include the $3.3 billion ConocoPhillips-
\noperated Bayu-Undan project and the $5 billion Woodside
\nPetroleum-run Greater Sunrise venture.<\/p>",
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