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WASHINGTON, Feb 26 - The United States, eager to build up its alliances in Southeast
Asia, has decided to resume training members of the Indonesian armed forces suspended
since 1992, the State Department announced Saturday.
"Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has determined that Indonesia has
satisfied legislative conditions for restarting its full International Military
Education and Training program," the State Department spokesman, Richard
Boucher, said in a statement.
Indonesia's participation in the program has been essentially on hold since
1992, when the Indonesian military began a crackdown against pro-independence
protesters in East Timor.
The sanctions were further tightened in 1999, after the Indonesian Army was
accused of killing about 1,500 people in East Timor in an unsuccessful bid to
prevent the territory from gaining independence.
The ban was effectively written into law by Congress in 2002, when lawmakers
charged that generals in Jakarta were blocking an investigation into the killing
of two school teachers in Papua Province.
But Indonesian officials have since taken steps to improve cooperation with
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and brought murder and illegal firearms
charges against Anthonius Wamang, a member of a Papuan separatist group, American
officials say.
Moreover, the administration of President George W. Bush has repeatedly emphasized
the importance of broadening post-Sept. 11 counterterrorism cooperation with
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.
Mr. Boucher said Ms. Rice had concluded that the Indonesians were determined
to continue their cooperation with the F.B.I. in the case of the slain Americans
"and thus have fulfilled the requirements articulated in the legislation
to allow for resumption" of the training program.
"The department expects that Indonesia's resumption of full international
military education and training will strengthen its ongoing democratic progress
and advance cooperation in other areas of mutual concern," the spokesman
said.
There was no immediate word on where Indonesian military personnel will be
trained and what kind of courses will be offered to them.
But the decision caps a quiet lobbying campaign by top Pentagon officials led
by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz, who has openly advocated the
view that Congressional restrictions on military-to-military contacts with countries
like Indonesia and Pakistan were hurting American interests more than helping
them.
Mr. Wolfowitz has cited the case of newly elected Indonesian president, Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, whom he described as "a democratic reformer" and
one of the last military officers trained in the United States.
