http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/03/02/us-close-lifting-ban-kopassus-juwono.html
US close to lifting ban on Kopassus: Juwono Lilian Budianto , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 03/02/2010 11:19 PM | World Former defense minister Juwono Sudarsono says Washington is close to lifting a ban on training the Indonesian Military's special forces (Kopassus), with the ban's main sponsor, Sen. Patrick Leahy, "accepting" Jakarta's progress in investigating officers accused of rights abuses. Under the Leahy Law, the entire Kopassus unit is banned from receiving US military education or training, following allegations of their involvement in a number of atrocities in restive provinces. The law says the ban will only be lifted if the government takes adequate legal steps to process officers allegedly involved. Juwono said Tuesday he had spoken with Leahy toward the end of his stint as defense minister last October, and the senator had "accepted" Jakarta's claims that it was investigating of rights abuses implicating several high-ranking officers. "In the next few months, the US State Department will conduct a review of the ban [indicating] that military-to-military relations will be restored ... to allow Kopassus officers to be trained in the United States," Juwono told The Jakarta Post on a sidelines of conference on Indonesia-US partnership. "It's just a matter of time, [maybe] a couple of months." US President Barack Obama will visit Indonesia in late March to launch a comprehensive partnership with Jakarta on a wide range of cooperation, including military. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
