Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Timor-Leste

East Timor, Indonesia begin high level talks

Officials from Indonesia and East Timor have started two days of high-level talks in the East Timorese capital, Dili - the second such meeting since the territory became independent in May, 2002.

Indonesia's foreign minister, Hassan Wirayuda, is attending the talks.

East Timor's prime minister, Mari Alkatari, opened the Joint Commission meeting, which is expected to discuss issues including their joint border, legal matters, finance, trade and communications.

Ahead of the talks, an Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman said his country will seek compensation for its nationals who lost property in East Timor when Indonesia withdrew in 1999.

Meanwhile, the commander of the East Timor defence force, Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, is due to arrive in Jakarta for separate talks about military cooperation with Indonesia.

Indonesia 'happy to help' East Timor Defence Force

An official at East Timor's embassy in Jakarta says Indonesia's military has offered to cooperate with its former adversaries in the East Timor Defence Force.

The official says the offer came during 90 minutes of talks between Indonesian Armed Forces commander, General Endriartono Sutarto and East Timor military commander, Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak.

General Sutarto reportedly said he was "happy to help" the 1,500-member East Timor Defence Force and would ask his staff to work with East Timor's embassy to determine the most appropriate assistance.

The East Timor official said the commanders had talked generally about training assistance.

Indonesia seeking compensation for property lost in East Timor

Indonesia says it will seek compensation for its nationals who lost property in East Timor when the former Indonesian territory gained independence.

A foreign ministry spokesman, Marty Wirayuda says the foreign minister, Hassan Wirayuda, will discuss the issue when he attends a Joint Commission meeting in Dili in Friday.

Mr. Natalegawa says Indonesia wants proper compensation for its citizens who lost property, and says it is "open to any win-win type of solution to this situation".

Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and relinquished control in October 1999 after East Timorese voted overwhelmingly for independence.

Militias armed and organised by the Indonesian military carried out a campaign of terror ahead of the ballot.

East Timor's prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, said in June his government needed more time to draft a new law on private assets.

He says the government cannot easily resolve the issue of assets because archives were burned in September 1999.

East Timor military commander in Jakarta for talks

military cooperation with Indonesian defence officials.

Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak is making a semi-official visit to Jakarta on his way back to the East Timorese capital, Dili, from South Korea.

General Ruak will discuss cooperation between East Timor's defence force and the Indonesian military.

He was formerly a commander in the Falintil rebel army that fought Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor, which ended in 1999.

Indonesia to work with former foe

AFP - Indonesia's military has offered to cooperate with its former adversaries in the East Timor Defence Force in areas such as training, an East Timor embassy official said.

The offer came late Friday during 90 minutes of talks between Indonesian Armed Forces commander General Endriartono Sutarto and Brigadier General Taur Matan Ruak, commander of the small East Timor military force, said Juvencio Martins, counsellor at the East Timor embassy.

"It was very fruitful," Martins said of the meeting. "It was very friendly." Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda was separately in the East Timor capital, Dili, for two days of high-level talks aimed at enhancing mutual cooperation in other sectors. Those talks ended Saturday morning.

Sutarto was "happy to help" the 1,500-member East Timor Defence Force and would ask his staff to work with East Timor's embassy to determine the most appropriate assistance, Martins said.

The commanders talked generally about training assistance, he said. Ruak was formerly a commander in the Falintil rebel army that fought Indonesia's 24-year occupation of East Timor.

The occupation ended in October 1999, after East Timor voted overwhelmingly to separate from its giant neighbour which invaded in 1975.

Indonesian forces launched a scorched earth policy that left much of East Timor in ruins as they departed.

But the two countries say they have put the past behind them and are now focusing on cooperation.

Ruak said about 10 countries had offered support for East Timor's army.

"And he said, 'Why not do the same with our friends from Indonesia?'" Martins told AFP.

Sutarto told Ruak the two nations had "a bitter past" but that the former rebel's visit "was a sign of friendship and a sign of goodwill to put the past behind us."

The Indonesian commander also agreed with a request from Ruak that East Timor's army should join the regular consultative meetings between Indonesia's armed forces and United Nations peacekeepers, Martins said.

East Timor became independent in May 2002 after 31 months of UN stewardship but about 4,000 peacekeepers remain to support Ruak's army.

The UN forces are to be gradually reduced before pulling out when the UN mandate expires next May.

Ruak arrived in Jakarta on Friday for a semi-official visit that ends Sunday.

East Timorese prosecutors have indicted at least 23 Indonesian military officers including former armed forces commander General Wiranto for crimes against humanity in connection with the 1999 violence.

Indonesia has refused to hand them over.

At the Dili Joint Commission talks which ended Saturday, Wirayuda and East Timor's Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta signed a statement about cooperation in trade, investment, transportation, telecommunications, social and educational matters.

They also agreed to consider establishing an "institutional framework" to help find a solution to the issue of Indonesian assets left behind in East Timor.

The statement said they also explored the idea of establishing a free trade zone straddling their land border, which has almost been delineated.

"Both parties emphasised the importance of good relations between the two countries in solving the residual issues as well as in facing the rapid development and changes in international relations...," the statement said.

The first Joint Commission meeting took place in October 2002.

Young Timorese want to keep calling Australia home

A close-ties visa offers new hope for asylum seekers who have grown up in Australia, reports Melissa Marino.

Holden cars and Aussie rules are part of folklore in Australia. And they are the passions of Kiam Lay and Toto Djumanto, developed over a decade of growing up in Melbourne.

Djumanto, 21, a manager at McDonald's, avoids cruising Lygon Street but loves tinkering with his red VN Commodore while Lay, 20, is more interested in the Swans' finals chances. The engineering student rates the team he has barracked for since he first set foot in Melbourne as a 50-50 chance to win the AFL premiership.

They play Port Adelaide today. It may be the only chance he'll have to see them try. Lay and Djumanto, like dozens of others who fled Indonesian-occupied East Timor for Australia a decade ago as children seeking refugee status have no certainty about whether they will be allowed to stay in the country they consider home.

Djumanto's brother, Djono, in an accent that could not be mistaken for anything else, says he considers himself Australian. The 18-year-old is in year 12 at Hawthorn Secondary College and lives with the family of his girlfriend, who was born in Australia and is part Greek