4w, timor leste. well known dxer kan mizoguchi, ja1bk, sent out a press
release (via wa2moe) explaining why "east timor" should be removed from
the arrl dxcc list and "timor leste" should be added as a new dxcc entity.
kan explains:
"explanation of our petition to remove the former 4w and to add timor
leste: the eastern part of the island timor was originally a portuguese
colony but was invaded by indonesia in 1975.
following the resignation of the indonesian dictator general suharto,
portugal and indonesia entered into a treaty allowing an independence
referendum to be held among the area's residents, and the united nations
began a short period of temporary administration and peacekeeping.
that area was called "east timor", and the un agency charged with
assisting the people to independence was called untaet, standing for
united nations transitional administration of east timor. it should be
remembered that untaet was not a country but was a un agency only.
the international telecommunication union (itu) allocated to untaet
a bloc of call prefixes 4wa-4wz , and under the provisions of dxcc2000
rules, arrl made "east timor" a dxcc entity.
there is a problem with this. at the time the entity was established
there was no state or country, just a land area which shortly would have a
referendum for independence according to the treaty. dxcc2000 states that
if '...provisional assignments not be ratified later by the full itu, the
entity will be removed from the dxcc list '.
the referendum was held on may 20, 2002. independence won, and the
provisional allocation of 4wa-4wz was returned to itu by untaet. the
allocation was never ratified. according to dxcc2000, untaet should have
been removed immediately from the entities list. it was not.
the new political state is known as the democratic republic of timor
leste and has been admitted to the united nations. the itu has now
reallocated the same bloc of prefixes to timor leste and the government
of that country has established a procedure whereby amateur radio licenses
can be and are issued.
the conclusion is obvious: since the arrl added untaet/4w to the dxcc
list it had to be removed when the provisional call bloc was cancelled
effective may 20, 2002 because untaet disappeared and the united nations
returned this provisional allocation to itu. the allocation to untaet was
never ratified so removal from the dxcc list should have been automatic
according to the rules of dxcc2000.
on the other hand, the democratic republic of timor leste became a
united nations member state on september 27, 2002 and is now eligible to
be a new entity according to dxcc2000 criteria a).
itu has reallocated 4wa-4wz to the democratic republic of timor leste and
actual amateur radio activities started after this reallocation."
