Dear Colleagues,

Indonesia and the United Nations, on behalf of East Timor, have agreed to
take the first steps towards the demarcation of the land boundary between
East Timor and the Indonesian province of West Timor.

Please find below copy of an extract of UNTAET's news briefing of 12
February 2002, and of a "World News" article of 14 February 2002.

Best regards,
Nuno Antunes


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UNTAET - 12FEB2002 News Briefing
********************************

PEACEKEEPERS, TNI AGREE ON BORDER DEMARCATION PLAN

UNTAET’s Peacekeeping Force (PKF) and the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) have
agreed on plans to survey and demarcate the border between East Timor and
Indonesian West Timor, PKF officials said today.

The agreement on Border Demarcation Reconnaissance was made at a Monday
meeting of the Tactical Coordination Working Group in Atambua, West Timor.
Dates for the survey are expected to be finalised within a few days.

The working group, which includes PKF and TNI representatives, also
discussed the establishment of a new Border Control Service post and ways to
improve the repatriation of East Timorese refugees currently living in camps
across the border.

In December, a special technical meeting on border demarcation took place in
Jakarta. United Nations and Indonesian delegations agreed that a
reconnaissance of the border should be undertaken in February.

The reconnaissance survey will study the riverbanks, river islands,
customary usage and technical issues. This will be followed by a number of
technical steps, preliminary to the resolution of the location of the
borderline.



***************************************************
Indonesia: Survey To Settle Borderline With E Timor
***************************************************

JAKARTA, Feb 14 (Oana-ANTARA) -- The Indonesian government and the United
Nations (U.N) have agreed to conduct a borderline survey and delineate a
demarkation line separating East Timor from West Timor in East Nusa
Tenggara.

The survey would be a preliminary step towards the settlement of the
borderline between Indonesia and East Timor, the UN said in a press release
issued today.

The plan was laid down in an agreement on demarkation line supervision
reached on Monday (February 10) at a meeting of the Tactical Coordination
Working Group in Atambua, West Timor.

However, the date of the survey has yet to be determined in the next few
days.

The UN and an Indonesian delegation decided at a special technical meeting
on the demarkation line here in December last year that agreement on border
control should have been reached in February 2002.

The border survey will also cover river banks, river plains and some other
technical issues which would later be followed by some technical measures
before deciding on the location of the borderline.
Oana-ANTARA


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