The United States has dropped its military embargo against Indonesia, six years after the Indonesian Army killed 1,500 people in the occupied country of East Timor.
The decision will allow the US Government to provide financial assistance for Indonesia to buy American weapons and to train its officers in American military colleges. It is also intended as a reward for Jakarta’s co-operation in pursuing Islamic militants.
Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said that the lifting of sanctions was “in the national security interests of the United States”.
He said: “Indonesia is a voice of moderation in the Islamic world. The Administration considers the relationship between the United States and Indonesia, the world’s third largest democracy, to be of the utmost importance.”
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“With the stroke of a pen, Secretary (Condoleezza) Rice and President Bush betrayed the untold tens of thousands of victims of the Indonesian military’s brutality in Indonesia and East Timor and undermined efforts at democratic reform,” John Miller, of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (Etan), said.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1887930,00.html
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