Subject: AN: Indonesia reopens border with
E Timor
Also - Indonesian army to reduce troop strength in areas bordering E Timor Jun 21 20:33 Indonesia reopens border with E Timor Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has reopened two gates of the border it shares with East Timor as a follow up of the meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and President Xanana Gusmao in Denpasar, Bali, last Saturday. The reopening of the border was disclosed by Indnesian Defense Forces (TNI) Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto before attending a cabinet meeting at the presidential office here on Wednesday. "The border was reopened on the day following the meeting between Yudhoyono and Xanana," the TNI commander said. President Yudhoyono after holding talks with Xanan on June 17 announced that the Indonesian government would reopen its border with East Timor on a selective basis. Accompanied by Xanana, the President told the press at that time that the border would be selectively reopened for social and economic interest as well as for allowing the smooth flow of traffic between the two countries. According to the TNI chief, the meaning of selective reopening was that the problem was left to officers in the field to judge the security situation and to decide whether it was conducive or not. The TNI commander said he could not yet predict when all gates of the border would be reopened. "It depends on the security situation in East Timor," he added. The border posts were jointly set up by the TNI, Police, the Immigration office, Customs and Excise office and the regional government. Although Indonesia has reopened two gates of its border posts, East Timor citizens were still banned from entering Indonesia. Along the border with East Timor, TNI had set up security posts at 59 points, consisting of 19 security posts under the supervision of Infantry Battalion-744, 21 posts under the task forces of Land Artillery-13 Battalion of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) and 19 posts under the task forces of Light Air-Defense Artillery-12 Battalion/Kostrad. Indonesia closed its border with Timor Leste in East Nusa Tenggara Province following the outbreak of clashes between military personnel and sacked military members in East Timor sometime ago. (*) Jun 21 19:03 Indonesian army to reduce troop strength in areas bordering E Timor Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian Army Chief of Staff General Djoko Santoso said the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) will in 2007 reduce in stages the number of its troops stationed in areas bordering East Timor. "It is possible that TNI will reduce the number of its military personnel stationed in areas bordeing East Timor in 2007," the Army commander said on the sidelines of the closing of the Army Sports Week IV 2006, here on Wednesday. He said the TNI Headquarters was still studying a plan to withdraw some of the TNI troops from the border. "The reduction in TNI personnel in East Timor border areas will be adjusted to developments in the security situation along the borders," he added. Along the border with East Timor, TNI had set up security posts at 59 points, consisting of 19 security posts under the supervision of Infantry Battalion-744, 21 posts under the task forces of Land Artillery-13 Battalion of the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) and 19 posts under the task forces of Light Air-Defense Artillery-12 Battalion/Kostrad. Indonesia closed its border with East Timor in East Nusa Tenggara Province following the outbreak of clashes between military personnel and sacked military members in Timor Leste sometime ago. The border was closed not only for security reasons but also for preventing the emergence of the complexity of the problem and unfounded accusations against Indonesia, following the political conflict that plagued the former Indonesian province. Indonesia and East Timor agreed to reopen the border when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and President Xanana Gusmao met in Bali over the weekend. Both agreed to reopen the border selectively to allow the flow of logistics transportation. The Army chief said that the government had allocated Rp11 billion for the development of facilities and infrastructure in Indonesian borders shared with East Timor, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Djoko said that Indonesia will increase the number of security posts in its border areas shared with Malaysia from 35 security posts to 85 posts. "Ideally, owing to the lengthy stretch of border between Indonesia and Malaysia, about 150 security posts needed to be set up in the areas," he added. He said that the number of security posts in the border areas shared with PNG would be increased from 95 to 104 and Indonesia-East Timor border from 19 to 29 security posts. (*) Back to June menu |