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Indonesia, E. Timor Agree to Demilitarize Border
Indonesia and East Timor have agreed to demilitarize their border areas to allow their people tovisit one another freely, the Jakarta Post reported Wednesday.
The bilateral agreement was reached at a meeting of Indonesian and East Timorese officials in Atambua, Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province, over the weekend.
Representing Indonesia were Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, East Nusa Tenggara Governor Piet A. Tallo and Maj. Gen. Willem T. da Costa, chief of the Udayana Military Command overseeing Bali, West and East Nusa Tenggara.
Present for the East Timorese side were Jose Ramos Horta, foreign minister of the United Nations Transition Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and Brig. Gen. Taur Matan Ruak, chief of the East Timor Armed Forces.
Da Costa said Indonesia would pull out 1,500 troops stationed in the border region while UNTAET would withdraw all Australian and New Zealand personnel stationed in the border region as part of the U.N. peace-keeping force.
"The important thing is that both sides agreed to insert stakes along the two countries' demarcation line. We agreed to keep the borderline open for our people to cross freely, like the one between Malaysia's Johor and Singapore," he said.
Da Costa said the Indonesian government would establish only an office to give immigration and tax services for border crossers. In Dili, capital of East Timor, East Timorese leader Joses Alexandre Xanana Gusmao hailed the agreement, saying it would allow people living in the border areas to visit one another and to carry out business activities.
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