JAKARTA, March 24 (UPI) -- Indonesia plans to keep its border with Timor-Leste closed for the present, government officials said Saturday.
Campaigning began Friday in Timor-Leste, or East Timor, for the presidential election, the Jakarta Post reported. Indonesian officials say that rebel forces might try to disrupt the election, resulting in a flare up of the violence that racked its tiny neighbor last year.
The border has been closed since Feb. 26 with about 1,000 soldiers stationed in the area to keep Timor-Leste rebels from entering Indonesia.
Timor-Leste, one of the poorest countries in the world, was a Portuguese colony until 1975. Nine days after Timor-Leste declared independence Indonesia invaded and occupied the country until 1999.
Caetano de Sousa Guterres, the Timor-Leste consul in Kupang, Indonesia, said that his government has been requesting that the border be reopened since March 1.
