http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051211122048&irec=2
Australia to restart training with Indonesian special forces SYDNEY, Australia (AFP): Australia will resume training with Indonesia's special forces, a practice suspended more than five years ago over allegations of human rights abuses by the elite Indonesian force, Defense Minister Robert Hill said Sunday. Cooperation between Australian Special Air Service troops and Indonesian Army Kopassus soldiers would focus on counter-terrorism efforts, Hill said. "In this era of heightened terrorist threats, it is in Australia's interests to engage with regional special forces, such as Kopassus, to safeguard the lives of Australians and Australian interests abroad," he said in a statement. "The bombings in Bali in October 2005 further highlighted the need for regional countries to work together in combating this common threat." Kopassus commander Maj. Gen. Syaiful Rizal told Australian media in October that his soldiers would begin training with the Perth-based Special Air Service (SAS) regiment in 2006 but the Australian Defense Force refused to confirm his statements. Hill said Sunday that the first joint exercise, 'Exercise Dawn Kookaburra,' would focus on counter-hijack and hostage recovery and be held over two weeks in Western Australia early in 2006. The last similar training exercise between Indonesian and Australian soldiers was in 1997. Hill told Melbourne's Sunday Age newspaper that he had decided to end the ban on joint exercises with Kopassus because "it might one day save Australian lives in Indonesia". Some 30 Indonesian troops from the specialist counter-terrorist Kopassus Unit 81 will take part in the exercise, he said. "They know to nominate somebody who has human rights blemishes on their record would be embarrassing to us, and we are confident that such a person wouldn't be in the group," Hill told the newspaper. "It's another step in normalizing the defense relationship," he added. Ties with Kopassus were suspended over allegations the elite force was behind human rights abuses in East Timor. Kopassus is alleged to have been linked to militia gangs that went on a rampage and killed 1,400 people after East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a UN-sponsored ballot in August 1999. (***) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Life without art & music? Keep the arts alive today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/7zgKlB/dnQLAA/Zx0JAA/uTGrlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
