Australia refuses arbitration to settle East Timor dispute

Australia refuses arbitration to settle East Timor dispute

Agence France-Presse, Sydney, Australia/Dili

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer rejected appeals to
settle a maritime boundary dispute with East Timor in
international courts on Thursday and lashed critics who accuse
Canberra of bullying its impoverished neighbor.

Downer said "outsiders" were not needed to settle the boundary
dispute, which will determine who controls billions of dollars in
oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea.

"We can negotiate this thing with the East Timorese," Downer
told reporters. "We don't need outsiders' help to do that, we
don't need outside help to assist us to negotiate our maritime
boundaries."

In March 2002, Australia withdrew from the International
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea before the dispute reached the
arbiter in what East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri described
as "a hostile act".

Downer accused Greens senator Bob Brown, a staunch critic of
Australia's stance who has just returned from a trip to the East
Timor capital Dili, of disloyalty for suggesting Canberra submit
to an international court.

"He should be on Australia's side," Downer said. "I hope all
of our senators would back Australia; if he doesn't back
Australia ... (if he) wants to back foreigners, well I don't
think Australians would appreciate that."

Alkatiri has said Dili is unlikely to ratify an interim
revenue-sharing deal on the Timor Sea oil and gas reserves
because gives East Timor only 18 percent of revenues while
handing Canberra 82 percent.

East Timor regards the Timor Sea revenue as a lifeline that
can end the nation's dependence on international aid.

Australia wants to keep the maritime border it agreed with
Jakarta after Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, which would
give it the lion's share of the reserves.

Dili argues that Jakarta only agreed to that deal in exchange
for Canberra's recognition of its illegal annexation of East
Timor and the border should lie at the mid-point between the two
countries, in line with standard international practice.

Talks aimed at settling the border dispute are scheduled to
wrap up in Dili on Friday but a resolution appears unlikely, with
East Timor accusing Australia of dragging its feet so it can make
the most of the lucrative interim revenue-sharing arrangement.

Meanwhile, East Timor and Australia on Thursday ended a first
round of talks aimed at settling their acrimonious sea border
dispute but there was no immediate comment from either side.

East Timor was due to hold a press conference on Friday.

The office of Alkatiri declined comment on the discussions.

When the talks began on Monday, Alkatiri launched a strong
attack on Australia for awarding exploration licenses in disputed
parts of the Greater Sunrise field.

He said the border issue is "a matter of life and death" for
his country, which was Asia's poorest nation upon independence in
May 2002.

East Timor, which became independent in 2002, says the border
should lie at the mid-point between the two countries.

Alkatiri is prepared to let an international tribunal decide
the matter but Downer rejected this.