Suai is a city in East Timor

East Timor

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...

. It has a population of 23,000 and is located 138 km to the southwest of Dili

Dili

Dili, spelled Díli in Portuguese, is the capital, largest city, chief port and commercial centre of East Timor.-Geography and Administration:Dili lies on the northern coast of Timor island, the easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands....

, the national capital. Suai is the capital of the Cova Lima district, which is in the southwest of the country. It is located just a few kilometers from the Timor Sea

Timor Sea

The Timor Sea is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, to the south by Australia and to the west by the Indian Ocean....

, on the south side of the island.

Suai was the location of the Suai Church Massacre

Suai Church Massacre

The Suai Church Massacre happened on September 6, 1999, two days after the announcement of the results of the independence referendum, in Suai, a city in the district of Cova Lima in the southwestern part of East Timor...

 in September 1999. It was one of a number of massacres perpetrated by a pro-Indonesia militia

Pro-Indonesia militia

Pro-Indonesia militias were East Timorese paramilitary militia groups that formed to show loyalty to the Indonesian government during the movement for East Timorese independence in the late 1990s...

 in the time of the Indonesian withdrawal of East Timor.

Following the events of 1999, Suai entered into a friendship program with Port Phillip

Port Phillip

Port Phillip Port Phillip Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...

, a bayside district of Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Together they are working towards assisting the community of Suai recover.