Indonesia to demarcate sea border with East Timor

September 18, 2003 3:32am

The Indonesian government has not mapped sea border with neighboring East Timor, leaving unclear the status of a small island between both countries, an Indonesian official said Thursday.

"The mapping is still focusing on land border that also remains unfinished," Anas Kencana, an official from the National Survey and Cartography Coordinating Board, was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying in Maluku province.

The official, who asked for anonymity, said the government must pay attention to the tiny Kambing Island located between East Timor and Indonesia's Maluku province to prevent Indonesia from losing another island, after the country lost to Malaysia in legal dispute over Sipadan and Ligitan islands at the International Court of Justice at Hague last December.

Anas said there are at least 48 uninhabited islands near Maluku that need close surveillance from the government because they are located on the borders with East Timor and Australia.

East Timor voted for independence in 1999 after 24 years of Indonesian occupation. The small country formally declared independence on May 20,2002.

Copyright 2003 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY.

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