The Indonesian government plans to reopen its border with Timor
Leste, Indonesian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Desra Percaya said
Monday, adding the technical implementation would be left to the
officials in the field.
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"We have heard President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's statement that
the government would reopen the border selectively. But up to now,
we have no idea yet which points are going to be reopened. The
technical implementation of border reopening is left to the
official in the field," he was quoted by the Antara news agency as
saying.
Percaya said that the reopening of certain check-points in the
border with Timor Leste would be adjusted to the need so that the
flow of essential commodity supply would be smooth.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in Bali last Saturday
that the government will selectively reopen its border with Timor
Leste.
"It is necessary to open the border in a selective manner in
order to enable traffic between two countries to run normally
again," the president said after a meeting with his Timor Leste
counterpart, Xanana Gusmao, at the Grand Bali Beach hotel on
Saturday evening.
Yudhoyono said the reopening of the border selectively will be
conducted for the sake of social and economic consideration as well
as to smooth traffic between the two countries.
He stressed the border would be opened even though the security
situation in Timor Leste had yet to return to normal.
Indonesia closed its border with Timor Leste recently in
anticipation of a possible exodus of Timor Leste people into
Indonesian controlled West Timor, but no significant border
crossings have been seen so far since unrest broke up in the tiny
neighbor last month.
(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2006)
