RI, East Timor to finalize border demarcation

RI, East Timor to finalize border demarcation

Associated Press, Dili

In another sign of improving relations, Indonesia and East Timor
will complete demarcation of their border at talks this week in
Bali, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

The meeting between senior officials, which follows
ministerial level talks in May, will take steps to "resolve the
remaining problems and to enhance the existing cordial relations"
between the two nations, Nelson Santos, secretary general of East
Timor's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement.

Only about 10 percent of the frontier remain to be marked, and
the two delegations are expected to sign an interim document by
the end of June setting out the final details, the statement
said.

The demarcation will improve security and help clamp down on
rampant smuggling between East Timor and Indonesian-held West
Timor.

It also will highlight the dramatic improvement of relations
between the two countries over the past three years.

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and
kept it under military rule until 1999, when the province's
people voted overwhelmingly for independence in a UN referendum.

The Indonesian military and its proxy militias reacted by
laying waste to the region and killing more than 1,500 people.

Still, since 2001 relations have steadily improved, and there
have been no significant militia incursions or cross-border
raids.

The East Timorese Defense Force, which consists of just two
regular infantry battalions and two reserve battalions, has taken
over border security from UN troops.

Last month, the UN Security Council agreed to a government
demand to retain about 700 military and police advisers in East
Timor into 2005.