Indonesia absent as World Court hears E. Timor case
Indonesia absent as World Court hears E. Timor case
THE HAGUE (Reuter): The International Court of Justice is
scheduled to open a hearing here on Monday to review the legality
of an Indonesian-Australian agreement to jointly explore for oil
in the sea off East Timor.
But Indonesia will be conspicuous by its absence as the United
Nations court convenes to hear Portugal's challenge to the
offshore oil treaty signed in 1989.
Recent oil finds in the stretch of sea known as the Timor Gap
have given an edge to the dispute, reviving initial hopes that it
may contain up to one billion barrels of oil.
Portugal will argue that Australia had no right to sign the
treaty with Indonesia because the United Nations still recognizes
Portugal, and not Indonesia, as the administrative authority in
East Timor.
Lawyer Miguel Galvao Teles, who will present Lisbon's case,
said Australia had flouted East Timor's right of self-
determination by signing the agreement.
"Portugal wants oil in the Timor Gap to be conserved for the
people of Timor when they are in an effective position to benefit
from it," Galvao Teles said.
Unlike Indonesia, Portugal and Australia both belong to a
group of about 50 countries that accept the International Court
of Justice's compulsory jurisdiction. Portugal can therefore take
Australia to the court but not Indonesia.
Australia has called Portugal's case "cynically misdirected"
and says there is no real dispute between the two countries.
"Portugal's real dispute over East Timor is with Indonesia,"
an Australian Foreign Affairs Department spokesman said.
The Timor Gap treaty divided the 23,550 sq miles (61,000 sq
km) of sea between Timor and Australia into three zones -- one
Australian, one Indonesian and one shared.
Initial drillings were unsuccessful but Australia's Broken
Hill company struck oil twice last year.
Galvao Teles said Portugal did not expect the court to quash
the treaty but hoped that it would compel Australia to
acknowledge Portugal's authority over East Timor.
Australia is one of the few Western countries that have
recognized Indonesia's sovereignty over the territory.
Legal experts said Portugal's case seemed well founded given
that East Timor's right to self-determination and Portugal's
status as the administering power had been affirmed in various
resolutions of the UN General Assembly and Security Council.
"I would say Portugal has at least an even chance, if not
better than that, of winning the case," said Terry Gill, lecturer
in international law at Utrecht University.
Lawyers noted similarities between the Timor Gap case and a
1971 ruling by the court on South Africa's continued presence in
Namibia in defiance of Security Council resolutions.
The court ruled then that UN member states were obliged to
refrain from any action that would imply recognition of the
legality of South Africa's presence in Namibia.
"If you use that as an analogy, then other states would at
least have a duty not to do anything that would legitimize
Indonesia's title to East Timor," Gill said.
The Portuguese colonial administration abruptly abandoned East
Timor in 1975 following the toppling of the Salazar dictatorship
in Lisbon. It left in its wake a bloody civil war between the
various political factions in East Timor.
The following year, the tribal leaders representing the
majority of East Timorese declared their desire to integrate with
Indonesia. The integration however has never been recognized by
the United Nations and a minority group of East Timorese has been
waging an armed struggle for an independent state.
The hearings at the International Court of Justice are
scheduled to last three weeks. The judgment is expected several
months after the hearings close.
The United Nations Secretary General has been sponsoring talks
between Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers to resolve
the status of East Timor.