-Caveat Lector-
----Original Message Follows----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rich Winkel)
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: RIGHTS: US Supposedly Halts Military Aid to Indonesia
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 00:56:29 -0500 (CDT)
/** ips.english: 429.0 **/
** Topic: RIGHTS: US Halts Military Aid to Indonesia, Economic Pressure **
** Written 9:09 PM Sep 9, 1999 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.english **
Copyright 1999 InterPress Service, all rights reserved.
Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
*** 09-Sep-99 ***
Title: RIGHTS: US Halts Military Aid to Indonesia, Economic Pressure
Grows
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, Sep 9 (IPS) - The United States Thursday suspended all
military ties with Indonesia and, for the first time, called on
Jakarta to invite an international peacekeeping force to restore
order in East Timor.
At the same time, the World Bank warned Indonesia that it
risked future financial aid because of its failure to comply with
a pledge to Indonesia's donors to co-operate fully with the UN
operation in East Timor.
Announcing the suspension of ''all programmes of military
cooperation,'' President Bill Clinton said future US assistance
to Indonesia would '' depend very strongly on the way Indonesia
handles this situation.''
US military leaders had made it ''crystal clear to senior
military officials in Indonesia, what they must do to restore our
confidence,'' Clinton told reporters at the White House, before
leaving for New Zealand to attend a meeting of Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) nations.
Clinton said he had been in telephone contact with UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan and ''our partners in the region, and around
the world,'' and applauded efforts to mobilize a multinational
security force for East Timor.
''The United States is prepared to provide support to this
Australian-led effort, Clinton said. ''Although we have made no
final decision, we're consulting with Congress now on the best way
to support this mission...''
Clinton declared that ''If Indonesia does not end the violence,
it must invite the international community to assist in restoring
security''
Meanwhile in Congress, Under Secretary of State Thomas Pickering
revealed that ''in effect, any future assistance from the
international financial institutions is effectively cut off as of
now...''
Pickering said Washington was reviewing its own bilateral aid
programme and may impose trade sanctions against Indonesia, if it
did not end the violence immediately and respect the will of the
vast majority of East Timorese who voted for independence in the
UN-supervised referendum on Aug. 30..
The new get-tough stance by US leaders ended a ''wait-and-see''
policy in Washington after pro-Indonesian militias rampaged
through East Timor for more than a week, killing and looting at
will and forcing more than 200,000 people to flee their homes.
Pickering made his remarks during a rare joint House-Senate
hearing on the situation in East Timor. They also came amid
growing pressure by the international financial institutions
themselves on Jakarta to end the violence.
Indonesia, whose economy effectively collapsed in the 1997-98
Asian financial crisis, has relied on a huge, 47-billion-dollar
rescue package put together by the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) for its recovery.
In a confidential letter seen by IPS, World Bank President
James Wolfensohn warned Indonesian President B.J. Habibie that
Jakarta's failure to comply with its pledge to Indonesia's donors
in July to co-operate fully with the UN operation in East Timor
risked future financial aid.
''For the international financial community to be able to
continue its full support,'' Wolfensohn told Habibie, ''it is
critical that you act swiftly to restore order, and that your
government carry through on its public commitment to honor the
referendum outcome.''
A Bank spokesman, confirming the letter had been sent to
Jakarta, said Habibie had not yet replied. In earlier statements
Indonesian officials bristled at the pressure being applied by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
On Wednesday, the IMF's director for the Asia and Pacific,
announced that a mission to Indonesia that was planned for later
this month had been placed on hold.
Clinton was even more pointed noting that the ''international
financial institutions are not moving forward with substantial new
lending to Indonesia.''
The United States, the largest shareholder in both the Bank and
the IMF, has been consulting intensively with other major western
donors over the past week about a co-ordinated strategy although
Washington has enough clout in both institutions to hold back
loans unilaterally if it so desired.
US officials conceded privately that economic pressure may not be
sufficient to persuade the Indonesian army - which reinforced its
forces on East Timor when Habibie declared a state of emergency
this week - to stop the violence and destruction.
It was in that context that Thursday's suspension of all
bilateral military ties and Pickering's call on Jakarta to
formally invite a UN peacekeeping force to the territory were
undertaken.
''The government of Indonesia has had ample opportunity and the
capability to achieve ...an immediate stop to the killing and
destruction in East Timor,'' Pickering said. ''The time has
clearly come for Indonesia to invite international assistance to
restore peace and stability to the territory.''
He added that the administration is ''prepared to support such
an effort in a material way,'' including ''logistical support,
(air- and sea-) lift, planning, and communications,'' some of
which could mean that US troops may be ''present on the ground to
carry out such tasks.''
Earlier Thursday, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,
Gen. Harry Shelton, said Washington had already sent a group of
Pentagon planners to Australia, which is expected to lead any
peacekeeping force.
Until now, Washington had clearly hoped that the Gen. Wiranto,
Indonesia's Armed Forces Chief of Staff, intended to quickly
restore order after martial law was declared. But the
administration appears to have become convinced in the last few
days that Wiranto either lacks effective control of his troops or
is complicit in the violence.
''What I am concerned about,'' said Pickering, ''has been a
history of (his) saying one thing and apparently doing something
else, of saying they were going to control the security, and
aiding and abetting the militias.
''To put faith in one or another of the comments of someone who
at least now appears to be knowledgeable of, if not engaged in
that kind of activity, is a pretty tough sell.''
That message was conveyed to Wiranto in a meeting in Jakarta
late Wednesday with the head of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral
Dennis Blair, according to Shelton.
It was Blair, who earlier this year personally invited Wiranto
to participate in a major Pacific military conference in Hawaii in
October, informed the general that all military-to-military ties
between the United States and Indonesia would be suspended.
Shelton told senators Thursday that Wiranto's invitation had been
suspended. (END/IPS/jl/mk)
Origin: ROMAWAS/RIGHTS/
----
[c] 1999, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)
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