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.