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Tag: East Timor

  • Q&A: East Timor’s ASEAN membership and the Myanmar conflict

    Q&A: East Timor’s ASEAN membership and the Myanmar conflict

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    EXCLUSIVE

    President Jose Ramos-Horta insists East Timor is on track to join the ASEAN bloc, which seeks to resolve the crisis in Myanmar.

    National representatives from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and member-to-be East Timor are meeting in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, this week.

    The four-day summit, which started on Tuesday, is also attended by United States Vice President Kamala Harris, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other prominent politicians.

    East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has said he may reconsider joining ASEAN if the bloc does not renew efforts to end the conflict in Myanmar following the military coup in 2021.

    Thailand’s outgoing military-led government broke ranks with the bloc, which had collectively decided to suspend Myanmar’s generals from top meetings, and embraced the neighbouring country’s regime with support from China.

    Last month, Myanmar’s coup leaders expelled East Timor’s top diplomat in Yangon after the Timorese joined a long list of countries in meeting with Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), set up by the now-removed elected lawmakers, most of whom are associated with jailed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

    Al Jazeera spoke with East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-Horta on the developments, the future of his country in ASEAN and the situation in Myanmar.

    Al Jazeera: In January this year, you said there were no obstacles to your country’s accession to ASEAN. What has changed since then?

    Jose Ramos-Horta: There has been no change. We are on track to join ASEAN and working hard with our ASEAN and other partners to implement a roadmap. The preference for us is to join in 2025, which will give us two years to reach the milestones laid out in the roadmap adopted by ASEAN leaders.

    Al Jazeera: We have been hearing about threats to pull back your ASEAN bid if the Myanmar crisis is not addressed adequately. Where are those threats coming from if you say things are on track?

    Ramos-Horta: We cannot blame ASEAN’s failures in dissuading the military to go back to its barracks and to respect the democratic rights of the people of Myanmar, to explore democracy, to free prisoners and stop killing civilians, as we cannot blame the UN Security Council for the war in Ukraine and the inability of the UN to resolve the crisis there.

    Our prime minister was expressing his frustration and ours, of ASEAN countries and the wider international community in regards to the failure of the military in Myanmar to live up to the pledges contained in the five-point consensus that the top model agreed with ASEAN leaders. The military in Myanmar seems not to realise the enormous harm they are doing to their own country, their own people and to the credibility of ASEAN.

    Al Jazeera: So you’re saying that there are frustrations but you are not threatening to withdraw your ASEAN bid?

    Ramos-Horta: Absolutely not. We are very grateful to ASEAN leaders. We want to join. This is in our national interest, goal and commitment. We will work with ASEAN partners to assist the bloc in addressing the problems of Myanmar, but from within ASEAN, not outside it.

    Al Jazeera: You have said your involvement in the Myanmar issue has been out of personal interest, and you have a friendly relationship with Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains in detention. After the attacks on the Rohingya, she faced heavy criticism for not speaking out. Has that changed the way other countries engage with the crisis in Myanmar? Perhaps the West and others have taken a step back?

    Ramos-Horta: It seems to me that those who criticise and demonise Aung San Suu Kyi did not understand that she had zero power over the military. She was neither the president nor the prime minister. She was a foreign affairs minister with zero power or control over the military. Instead of targeting the military for their crimes against the Rohingya, they were singling her out.

    That was my criticism of those who, instead of focusing on the military which was responsible for launching the attacks on the Rohingya, were demonising Aung San Suu Kyi. I could not agree with that and I still don’t agree with that.

    Al Jazeera: You’ve said ASEAN is facing challenges in getting the Myanmar military to implement the deal. There are issues due to the US-China rivalry and the war in Ukraine. Are you concerned that with all of these divisions and other structural issues, ASEAN is perhaps becoming less relevant?

    Ramos-Horta: No, ASEAN will remain vital. It is an energetic area – 700 million people and $4 trillion economy and a very strategic space and waterways. The rivalry, which was always there, will continue. Going back to the Vietnam War and insurgencies of the 1960s, ASEAN leaders were able to navigate these storms and build ASEAN and bring prosperity and stability to the region. I am confident that they will eventually be able to stabilise the situation in Myanmar. The military in Myanmar is not winning this war. They control only 30 percent of the country. Twenty years ago, the fight was between the national armies. Today, it is between the people and the military, and the military will not win this war. I would only hope that Russia and North Korea stop supplying weapons to Myanmar.

    This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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  • US military aicraft crashes off northern Australia, 20 Marines on board

    US military aicraft crashes off northern Australia, 20 Marines on board

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    Rescue efforts are under way after what Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called a ‘tragic’ incident.

    A rescue operation is under way after a United States military aircraft crashed off the northern coast of Australia with 20 Marines on board, in what Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called a “tragic” incident.

    Several people were rescued, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), after the Osprey V-22 came down near Melville Island about 60km (37 miles) from Darwin on Sunday.

    One person was in critical condition, two were stable and there were no reports of fatalities, it reported.

    Australia’s defence ministry said the accident happened during the annual Predator Run exercises involving the militaries of Australia, the United States, East Timor, Indonesia and the Philippines.

    Albanese, speaking at a previously scheduled press conference, declined to provide details about the crash or rescue efforts.

    “Our focus as a government and as a department of defence is very much on incident response and on making sure that every support and assistance is given at this difficult time,” he said.

    Australian personnel were not involved, Albanese said.

    The US and Australia, a key ally in the Pacific, have been stepping up military cooperation in recent years in the face of an increasingly assertive China.

    Four Australian soldiers were killed last month when their helicopter crashed into the sea off the coast of Queensland.

    The aircraft had been taking part in Talisman Sabre, a joint military exercise involving a total of 13 countries, including the US, Australia, Japan, France and Germany, and more than 30,000 personnel.

    Ospreys are tilt-rotor aircraft that combine the features of both helicopters and turboprop planes, according to the US Air Force.

    It has two swivelling engines positioned on fixed wingtips that allow it to land and take off vertically, but also move at faster speeds than a conventional helicopter.

    The Osprey aircraft’s safety record has repeatedly come into question after a series of fatal incidents.

    In June last year, all five Marines on board an Osprey were killed when it crashed in the California desert near the Arizona border.

    In March of that year, four Marines were killed when an Osprey crashed near a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle during a NATO exercise.

    In 2017, three Marines were killed when an Osprey crashed after clipping the back of a transport ship while trying to land at sea off Australia’s north coast.

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  • ASEAN ministers urge reduced violence, dialogue in Myanmar

    ASEAN ministers urge reduced violence, dialogue in Myanmar

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    JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers urged Myanmar’s military rulers on Friday to reduce violence and allow unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to pave the way for a national dialogue aimed at ending the country’s worsening crisis.

    Meeting in Indonesia’s capital, the ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also granted observer status to East Timor, Asia’s newest nation, ahead of it becoming the regional bloc’s 11th member.

    Myanmar is an ASEAN member, but its foreign minister was excluded from Friday’s annual ministers’ retreat because of his country’s failure to implement a five-step consensus on restoring peace forged in 2021 between ASEAN and Myanmar’s military leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

    Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who hosted Friday’s meetings, said the ministers agreed that an inclusive national dialogue “is key to finding a peaceful resolution to the situation in Myanmar,” and that reducing violence and providing humanitarian assistance are “paramount for building trust and confidence.”

    She said the lack of progress in Myanmar “tests our credibility” as a group, and that ASEAN’s efforts toward peace would be coordinated with those of other countries and the United Nations.

    Myanmar’s military leader promised in the five-point agreement to allow a special ASEAN envoy to meet with jailed ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others to foster a dialogue aimed at easing the crisis, set off by the military’s seizure of power two years ago. But Myanmar refused to let an ASEAN envoy meet with Suu Kyi last year, resulting in Min Aung Hlaing’s exclusion from an ASEAN summit last November.

    The increasing violence in Myanmar since the military takeover loomed large over the foreign ministers’ meetings, even as Indonesia, this year’s ASEAN chair, sought to dampen concerns that the crisis will overshadow other issues and hold the bloc “hostage.”

    In her opening remarks, Marsudi said the ministers were meeting in the midst of immense global challenges in which the Indo-Pacific region is not immune, including geopolitical, food, energy, financial and ecological crises, as well as major power rivalries that could spill over and potentially destabilize the region.

    The ministers warmly applauded the East Timor delegation as it participated in an ASEAN ministerial meeting for the first time.

    “It is a crucial steppingstone in our long journey to join the big family of the ASEAN community,” East Timor Foreign Minister Adaljiza Magno said,

    ASEAN agreed in principle to admit East Timor as the group’s 11th member at last November’s ASEAN summit.

    East Timor applied for full membership in ASEAN in 2011, but some members feared its poverty would be a burden and slow efforts to achieve an ASEAN Economic Community.

    The U.N. estimates that nearly half of East Timor’s population lives below the extreme poverty line of $1.90 a day, and that 42 of every 1,000 babies die before their fifth birthday because of malnutrition.

    The former Portuguese colony was occupied by Indonesia for a quarter-century and gained independence after a U.N.-sponsored referendum in 1999. Indonesia’s military responded with scorched-earth attacks that devastated East Timor.

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