Agense Franse Presse

Agense Franse Presse
Jakarta

Joint demarcation teams begin survey in Timor border area

Representatives of East Timor and Indonesia have begun a Joint
Reconnaissance Survey aimed at demarcating their land border, a
report received here Tuesday said.

The 12-day survey began in the West Timor border town of
Atambua on Monday, a press release of the United Nations
Transitional Administration in East Timor said.

The teams, including surveyors and diplomats from each side,
are set to visit the border districts of Covalima, Maliana in
East Timor as well as the Oecussi enclave in the coming days.

They will attempt to locate old border markers and study
geological features as well as social and technical issues linked
to border delineation.

The schedule for the survey was agreed upon at a technical
meeting held in Denpasar, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali
last week.

"I think we have achieved what we set out to do (at the
technical meeting,)" said Nelson Santos, Director of Bilateral
Affairs at East Timor's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We found
there was a very good spirit of cooperation from the Indonesian
side."

The launch of the border demarcation process has been a major
goal of the United Nations before the end of the transition
period.

East Timor, bordering Indonesia's West Timor, had been
regarded as Jakart's 27th province for 24 years.

It has been under UN administration since October 1999
following the pro-independence results of a UN-held self
determination ballot in August that year.

East Timor is scheduled to become the millennium's first new
state when it gains independence on May 20.