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"No progress" made at UN/Indonesia meeting on West Timor, UN mission says
15 September -- The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) said today that "no advances" were made at a meeting held late last night between officials from the UN mission and the Indonesian Government on West Timor's volatile security situation.

At the meeting, held in Denpasar, Indonesia, UNTAET chief Sergio Vieira de Mello and Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao emphasized to General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs, that militias in West Timor must be disarmed and that those responsible for last week's killings of three staff from the UN refugee agency in Atambua must be brought to justice.

The Indonesian side said that a comprehensive plan was being worked out to disarm militias, bring the Atambua murderers to justice and repatriate refugees. "This plan, however, has failed to materialize," UNTAET said.

Also during the meeting, the UN mission and the Indonesian Government signed a document establishing a Joint Border Committee consisting of civilian representatives of both parties. Under the agreement, both East Timor and Indonesia pledge to seek mutually agreeable solutions to all practical problems of a cross-border nature, ranging from the demarcation of the political border between East and West Timor to the facilitation of people and goods across the border, as well as environmental issues and cross-border police cooperation.

The decision to establish the Joint Border Committee had been made during the third round of negotiations between Indonesia and UNTAET in July.

Meanwhile, it was announced today in the East Timorese capital of Dili that the first formal round of negotiations between the UN mission and the Government of Australia on the Timor Gap - an area of sea between Australia and East Timor - would take place in Dili from 9-11 October. The negotiations are to address a future treaty that will govern the resources of the Timor Gap.