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East Timor National NGO Forum
Caicoli Street, Dili, Timor-Leste. Tel +670-723-5063 or 7254912.
Email: laohamutuk@easttimor.minihub.org or etngocentre@hotmail.com
Press Release…Press Release…Press Release…Press Release…Press
Release...Press Release…
26 April 2005
PRESS RELEASE
TIMOR-LESTE CIVIL SOCIETY “DEMANDS THE EXPEDITIOUS DETERMINATION
OF A FAIR MEDIAN LINE”
The results of the most recent negotiations held last March in
Canberra-Australia, spoke about the establishment of a Resources
Sharing Agreement or an agreement which favours a “legal framework”
for a “creative solution”. The essence of this “creative solution”
is that Timor-Leste will receive 5 billion American dollars from the
total reserve of 30 billion American dollars in the Greater Sunrise
oil field. The logic for the granting of this 5 billion dollars is
that it is a “bonus” from the oil and gas exploration in the field,
and that there will be no determination on the maritime border for
100 years. The Australian government is pressing for any solution
that will provide a legal agreement to the Woodside company and its
partners so that they can begin the exploitation of the Greater
Sunrise field.
From the above information we can conclude that the Australian
government is anxious about discussions regarding the Maritime
Boundary and prefers to discuss the distribution of natural
resources, of which we are all aware that according to international
UNCLOS law, 100% of the natural resources in the Timor Sea belong to
Timor-Leste.
Based on these reasons we, Timor-Leste civil society and
students, those of us who are issuing this declaration, wish to
convey our concerns regarding something which is of great importance
to this nation. We wish to remind the two governments involved, but
in particular our own government, the Government of the Republic of
Timor-Leste.
Based upon what we know about the negotiations process, we demand
that the Timor-Leste and Australian governments do the following:
1. Request the negotiators, who will tomorrow sit together to
discuss the future of the Timorese people, to respect the
sovereignty of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, and to make
an expeditious decision on the Median Line.
2. We ask the Australian government to return to the
international dispute resolution process for maritime boundaries
of the International Court for Justice and the International Court
for the Law of the Sea, and
3. To cease exploration of the Laminaria-Corallina and other
fields in the disputed territory, including the granting of new
licences. The money obtained from the exploration of these fields
should be put in a fund which can later be divided between the two
countries when agreement is reached.
4. To our government Timor-Leste: we ask that you do not rush
in obtaining an agreement for the exploration of Greater Sunrise;
it is more important that you determine a maritine boundary and a
lateral boundary based on international law, and
5. If the Australian government remains stubborn and refuses to
come to a decision on the maritime boundary based upon
international UNCLOS law, we ask the Timor-Leste government to
return the “AusAid grant” money which the Australian government
gave to Timor-Leste.
Once again, we ask that the Government of Timor-Leste assign
priority to a discussion of the Maritime Boundary, rather than that
of resource distribution with the Australian government, who are
intent on the continuing exploitation of Timor-Leste’s resources.
For futher information please contact: Tomas Freitas,
Mobile Phone +670 7245063/3325013,
email: laohamutuk@easttimor.minihub.org
Asosiasaun HAK, La’o Hamutuk, Sahe Institute for Liberation,
Asosiasaun Estudante UNTL, Asosiasaun Estudante UNDIL, ETADEP,
FOKUPERS, AMKV,Dai Popular, Hasatil, Kdalak Sulimutu Institute.
see also
Timor Sea, Boundaries & Oil
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