Sakato, East Timor


Sakato, also spelled Sacato, is a village in East Timor located in the suco of Nipane under the Pante Macassar Subdistrict in the Oecusse Special Administrative Region. It is the location of the main border crossing between the East Timorese exclave of Oecusse and Indonesia.

Geography

Sakato is located on the Oecusse coastline which is on the northern coast of Timor island. It is located to the west of the Noel Meto river which forms the East Timor-Indonesia border. The mountains of Oecusse rise up behind Sakato.

Transportation

The village is served by the main road from Pante Macassar, the capital of Oecusse which is located 15 km to the east. From Sakato, the distance to the main part of East Timor via the Mota'ain/Batugade border crossing is about 75 km along the northern coastal road which traverses North Central Timor Regency and Belu Regency of Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia.

Border crossing checkpoint

The Sakato integrated frontier checkpoint is located 15 km east of Pante Makassar and just west of the bridge over the Noel Meto which forms the East Timor-Indonesia border. The checkpoint on the Indonesia side is called the Wini border crossing checkpoint.
The checkpoint was newly built to cater to immigration, customs, quarantine and security procedures after East Timor became independent. The facility was opened by Vice Prime Minister Jose Luis Guterres on 28 June 20112. The border crossing is the main one for Oecusse as it is located on the shortest route between Oecusse and the main border crossing into the main part of East Timor at Mota'ain/Batugade.

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