Subject: Timor - Leste International and Local Media Monitoring November 01 2004

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Timor - Leste International and Local Media Monitoring for November 1, 2004

East Timor charges Indonesian soldiers East Timor News

East Timor has indicted eight Indonesian soldiers and two militiamen for allegedly killing two UN election workers and attacking independence supporters during the country's bloody break from Indonesian rule in 1999.

The indictments bring to 391 the number of Indonesian military and militia members charged with human rights violations over the violence that left 1500 Timorese dead and the half-island in ruins. The indictments were filed at the Special Panel for Serious Crimes in the capital, Dili.

Prosecutors alleged Lieutenant Mohamad Roni and soldiers Joao da Costa and Domingos de Deus gunned down the two UN election workers during an independence referendum on August 30, 1999.

The soldiers targeted the pair at a polling station in Atsabe, about 57 kilometres west of Dili, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors also said five members of the Indonesian army ? including three district commanders ? joined two militia leaders in attacks on independence supporters.

The seven allegedly killed six independence supporters between early May and August 11, 1999, in Viqueque, about 160 kilometres west of the capital. Prosecutors said the killings were aimed at convincing voters to reject independence.

But the referendum passed and East Timor became a sovereign country in May 2002. De Deus remains in Dili but the other nine suspects were believed to be in Indonesia.

Timor in $2.6bn oil claim East Timor News

EAST Timor is demanding the Australian Government pay more than $2.6 billion in compensation for oil produced from Timor Sea fields since 1999.

The country, which describes itself as the world's poorest, also wants the companies that invested in developing the Laminaria, Corallina and Buffalo oil fields to pay at least $600 million in compensation for royalties it claims that it should rightfully have been paid.

The huge claim is set to further sour relations between the two countries following the collapse earlier this week of maritime boundary talks.

East Timor's Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, said in Perth yesterday the country had a right to be compensated because the fields were in areas over which it claimed sovereignty.

"Our claim is clear because we believe that not only is Greater Sunrise within our area but that Laminaria, Corallina and Buffalo are in the area of Timorese jurisdiction," he said. "Surely, if it is ours, it is ours."

Dr Alkatiri was in Perth for a University of Western Australia geology seminar and for talks with representatives of Woodside and ConocoPhillips, the major partners in the Greater Sunrise gas project in the Timor Sea.

Woodside operates the Laminaria and Corallina fields, which earlier this decade were Australia's largest oil producers at about 140,000 barrels a day.

Natural field decline has reduced production to about 40,000 barrels today.

Buffalo, originally developed by BHP Petroleum and now owned by the Nexen Energy group of Calgary in Canada, is scheduled to cease production by the end of this year.

In Dili on Wednesday, talks on a maritime boundary between the two countries collapsed after East Timor rejected an offer of about $3million to offset the smaller share of revenue it would garner from the the Greater Sunrise development under existing arrangements.

Woodside says it wants the East Timorese to provide legal and fiscal certainty by the end of the year, and has warned the project will stall.

The Dili talks were rocked when East Timor insisted development of Greater Sunrise must result in the gas being piped to a liquefied natural gas plant to be built in the country. This is the least likely of three options now being considered by the Sunrise partners.

Dr Alkatiri said East Timor was committed to develop Sunrise, but would not approve development if it prejudiced the country's aims.

He said East Timor would not be rushed into a decision because it did not believe the end-of-year deadline was real. "What we have been trying to do is defer consideration of the maritime boundary (but) the Australian Government is looking at money only," he said. "We are not looking at money but at sustainable development that will benefit our people."

Dr Alkatiri said he did not believe the dispute would damage long-term relations between the countries.

Note: The World Bank welcomes comments and suggestions, as well as information about errors that call for correction. Messages may be sent to Sildonia Sarmento who can be reached through e-mail at ssarmento@worldbank.org or telephoned at 332 4649, extension 304.

Thank you,

David de Araujo Receptionist World Bank, Dili Office


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