Stay updated with breaking news from Dili airport. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Looking out from Wata Bo’o beach, I saw a calm blue sea, the water unruffled, disrupted only intermittently by the splash of a leaping silvery fish. This serene tropical outpost, a thousand miles east of Bali, felt like it might have always been like this. Except the beach has had a troubled history. The Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese and most recently, the Indonesians, battled over it. With mass atrocities in living memory – they only gained independence from Indonesia 21 years ago – the focus her ....
East Timor (Timor Leste) gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a violent struggle, which led to the cutting of Timor Island into two distinctive parts: Timor Barat (West Timor) with Kupang East Timor (Timor Leste) gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a violent struggle, which led to the cutting of Timor Island into two distinctive parts: Timor Barat (West Timor) with Kupang as its capital is still today part of Indonesia, while East Timor became Southeast Asia’s newest state. However, almost a decade after achieving independence, tourism remains in its infancy in this country populated with a million inhabitants, as many tourists still continue to ignore its existence. Many factors explain Timor Leste’s struggle to reach a wider audience. Its first years of independence were marked with sporadic but brutal violence, which tarnished the image of the country. Stability exists now, however, the country’s external image still remains negative in some ....