---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 Free Email @KotakPos.com visit: http://my.kotakpos.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------- UK'S BAIL TO ENDORSE INDONESIA'S REFORM London, Feb 1 (ANTARA/Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair will throw his political weight behind Indonesia's reforms when he meets President Abdurrahman Wahid later on Tuesday, his official spokesman said. "The Prime Minister will tell him Britain fully supports what he is doing," the spokesman told reporters. Wahid, who is in Britain with a team of ministers and businessmen aiming to shore up international backing for Indonesia, will meet Blair in his Downing Street home at around 2:30 p.m. (14.30 GMT). Blair will congratulate him on trying to bring those responsible for violence in East Timor to justice, for re-establishing democracy and for pushing through economic reforms, the spokesman said. As well as meeting Blair, Wahid will hold talks with Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and International Development Secretary Clare Short. On Monday, Wahid said he would ask former Indonesian military chief General Wiranto to step down as coordinating minister for political and security affairs. Wiranto was incriminated in an official report on last year's bloodsheed in East Timor. Earlier in the day, British Foreign Office minister John Battle, back from a trip to Indonesia, said the country had been "transformed" since holding its first contested presidential election last year. "There's now a democratically elected parliament, there's the first democratically chosen president for many, many years, the first civilian defence minister ... they have got a human rights minister ... so I think the situation and a new emerging democracy now in Indonesia," he told BBC radio. Two weeks ago Britain announced it was lifting an arms embargo against Indonesia in line with a European Union ruling. The four-month EU embargo was imposed to put pressure on Jakarta to respect East Timor's vote for independence at a time when the territory was torn by violence. A UN approved peace-keeping force is now in place in East Timor, but conflict has erupted elsewhere in archipelago nation, with communal violence in the Moluccas and Lombok. Britain has said any future applications for the export of military equipment to Indonesia will be considered on a case-by- case basis in line with the national criteria on arms exports and the UE code of conduct adopted in 1998. "To some extent the lifting of the UE action was symbolic because there is not going to be a flow of arms into Indonesia," Battle said. (U.FN03/1/02/:0 22:26/TB05) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 7 Feb 2000 jam 06:37:26 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
