INDONESIA, U.S. TO HOLD TALKS ON SECURITY COOPERATION

April 22, 2004 6:43am Antara

Washington DC, April 21 (ANTARA) - An Indonesian delegation is slated to hold a two-day dialog with United States officials on the two countries' security cooperation, head for political affairs of the Indonesian embassy in Washington DC, Soehardjono Sastromihardjo, said here on Tuesday.

The Indonesian delegation, to be led by the Defense Ministry's director general for defense strategy Maj Gen Sudrajat and consisting of 13 government officials, security personnel and officials of the national intelligence agency BIN, will hold the dialog with ranking officials of the Pentagon and the US State Secretary on April 22-23, Soehardjono said.

The meeting will be the second to be held by both countries after the first on April 24-25, 2002 in Jakarta.

The second meeting was scheduled to be held in 2003 but was cancelled because of the US war against Iraq.

Talks on the security cooperation are part of the commitment expressed by Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri and US President George W Bush during their meeting a week after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001.

"The point is to increase military cooperation between the two countries, and cooperations in other issues linked to security affairs," Soehardjono said.

The cooperation deteriorated during the increased tension in East Timor, which ended with the latter's separation from Indonesia through a referendum in September 1999.

Following the crisis in East Timor, the US Congress called on its government to postpone its military cooperation with Indonesia until the latter brings to court a number of generals accused of violating human rights in East Timor.

This was stipulated in the Leahy Amendment initiated by Patrick Leahy.

However, the US government has urged the Congress to relax its stance and seek a better solution through discussion.

(THROUGH ASIA PULSE)

see also JOINT STATEMENT INDONESIA-U.S. SECURITY DIALOGUE II

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