Timor anger with Australia over maritime border talks<\/p>\n
Jonathan Steele , Guardian News Service, Dili\/London<\/p>\n
Australia, which led an international peace force to help East
\nTimor become independent last year, has become the greatest
\nbarrier to the country's hopes of breaking free from reliance on
\nforeign aid, according to stark budget figures released on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Despite starting out as one of the world's poorest and most
\nwar- torn states, East Timor stands to benefit from huge gas
\nreserves which lie under the sea that separates it from
\nAustralia.<\/p>\n
But harsh Australian negotiating tactics over disputed claims
\nto the gas have forced the government to accept that long-
\npromised revenues will not materialize for several more years, if
\never.<\/p>\n
As a result the Timorese budget deficit for the three years
\nfrom June next year will be roughly double the US$70 million
\npreviously projected, the finance ministry in Dili announced on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
News of the revenue shortfall came as Xanana Gusmao, East
\nTimor's president, started an official visit to Britain. "We're
\nnot asking too much from Australia. What belongs to us is ours.
\nWe hope Australia can understand that," he told the Guardian in
\nLondon.<\/p>\n
Gusmao has been dubbed Asia's Nelson Mandela because of his
\nlong years in prison as leader of the armed struggle against
\nIndonesian occupation, and more recently as a champion of post-
\nconflict reconciliation.<\/p>\n
But he could not conceal his anger at Australia's behavior.
\n"They still haven't agreed when to start maritime border
\nnegotiations," he said.<\/p>\n
The huge reserves of gas in question are known as the Greater
\nSunrise field. Although they are closer to East Timor than
\nAustralia, they were "awarded" to Australia under a treaty with
\nSoeharto, in 1989.<\/p>\n
Economic factors were a key incentive in making Australia one
\nof the first countries to recognize Indonesia's illegal invasion
\nof East Timor after the territory declared independence from
\nPortuguese colonial rule in 1975. An international outcry finally
\narose in 1999 when the Indonesian army and local militias
\nmassacred hundreds of Timorese after a nationwide vote to move to
\nindependence.<\/p>\n
The Timorese government, with the backing of the UN, announced
\nlast year that it wanted to renegotiate the boundary line. Under
\nnormal international practice it would be fixed as the halfway
\nmark, putting all of Greater Sunrise inside East Timor's waters.<\/p>\n
Australia first announced it would not accept any decisions by
\nindependent arbitrators such as the international court of
\njustice, thus leaving East Timor at the mercy of bilateral
\nnegotiations with its giant neighbor. Then it persuaded cash-
\nstrapped East Timor last year to agree that 20 percent of Greater
\nSunrise was part of a "joint production area", giving Australia a
\nright to a share.<\/p>\n
Now Australia is declining to set a timetable for completing
\nnegotiations on the remaining 80 percent. By delaying production,
\nthe apparent aim is to press East Timor to soften its claim.<\/p>\n
"We don't have to exploit the resources. They can stay there
\nfor 20, 40, 50 years. We are very tough. We will not care if you
\ngive information to the media. Let me give you a tutorial in
\npolitics - not a chance," Alexander Downer, Australia's abrasive
\nforeign minister, recently told East Timor's prime minister, Mari
\nAlkatiri, according to a leaked transcript.<\/p>\n
Australian officials were not available last night for comment
\non the budget figures.<\/p>\n
"Australia is giving A$1 million in emergency food aid for
\nfamilies affected by a two-year drought and is launching a major
\nnew initiative to provide training for East Timor's police," said
\na spokesman for the high commission in London.<\/p>",
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