Word: timorous
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...EAST TIMOR: International law says that when two states are less than 400 nautical miles (750 km) apart, the maritime boundary should be the line of equidistance...
...town's dusty streets seeking passengers. As frequent toots and the precise hand signals of police officers slice the heavy air, lassitude is supreme. Only bony hounds present a menace to the few souls out in the mid-afternoon heat. In a chilly conference room at the Hotel Timor, a bespectacled delegate is setting out Australia's position during official talks that are meant to build a permanent legal fence in the sea between his abundant nation and its impoverished near neighbor. East Timor's lead negotiator, Peter Galbraith, is unmoved by the Australian's argument...
...conflict would be called asymmetric. A small, fast-moving mercenary force is launching rocket-propelled grenades in all directions; its larger, cautious opponent knows it can call in air strikes at any time. The difference between the two countries' firepower and tactics could hardly be greater. East Timor (pop. 800,000), the half-island which celebrated independence on May 20, 2002, is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia; Australia (pop. 20 million) is the richest nation in the region. East Timor is pressing for a maritime boundary in the Timor Sea that is equidistant between the countries. Provisional...
...passion and certainty of the protagonists aside, the sea-bed boundary issue is devilishly complex. Changes in international law, sovereignty and geopolitics have left a murky situation. That Australia is rich and East Timor is poor counts for nothing. Yet the new nation's recent tragic history - neglected Portuguese colony and brutalized invaded territory - gives the talks a profound moral dimension. John Howard's government spent considerable political capital and diplomatic effort on Timorese independence; it sent 5,700 troops and led the U.N.'s interfet peacekeeping force. "Having helped to liberate East Timor, Australia is obliged...
...past two years, Mendon?a has trekked through remote areas in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, explaining to skeptical village chiefs the government's progress in the Timor Sea negotiations and its plans to meet the basic needs of citizens and save half the expected revenues in a fund for future generations - like the thousand young Catholics gathered at a conference in Ermera, a coffee-growing area some 50 km from Dili. It's taken Prime Minister Alkatiri and his escort almost three hours to make the hazardous road journey here, but at the end of his pep talk, he takes...