Suai is a city in

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

, in Suai Subdistrict. It has a population of 9,866 and is located to the southwest of Dili, the national capital. Suai is the capital of the

Cova Lima District Cova Lima (, ) is a municipality of East Timor, in the Southwest part of the country. It has a population of 59,455 (Census 2010) and an area of 1,230 km2. The capital of the municipality is Suai, which lies 136 km from Dili, the n ...

, which is in the southwest of the country. It is located just a few kilometers from the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea ( id, Laut Timor, pt, Mar de Timor, tet, Tasi Mane or ) is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, and to the south by Australia. The sea contains a number of reefs ...

, on the south side of the island. Suai was the location of the Suai Church Massacre in September 1999. It was one of a number of massacres perpetrated by a pro-Indonesia militia in the time of the Indonesian withdrawal of East Timor. Following the events of 1999, Suai entered into a friendship program with the

City of Port Phillip The City of Port Phillip is a local government area of Victoria, Australia on the northern shores of Port Phillip, south of Melbourne's central business district. It has an area of 20.7 km² and had a population of 113,200 in June 2018. P ...

, a bayside municipality south of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia. Together they are working towards assisting the community of Suai recover. Suai is served by Suai Airport which was expanded in 2017.

References

External links

* {{District capitals of East Timor Populated places in East Timor Cova Lima Municipality Timor Sea