Posted on 02/04/2004 5:21:56 PM PST by mylife
Asia-Pac gets new centre to fight terror The main message from leaders at a Bali anti-terror meeting: the region is at the front line and cooperation must go up
By Robert Go THE STRAITS TIMES INDONESIA BUREAU
BALI - South-east Asia remains a front line in the war against terror, and more attacks by militant groups are 'inevitable'.
This grim message was delivered by Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer at the start of an Asia-Pacific counter-terrorism conference here yesterday.
Indonesia and Australia, co-hosts of the meeting, also announced plans for a new Centre for Law-enforcement Cooperation in Jakarta, one aimed at supplying countries in the region with both the data and technical skills needed in the fight against trans-national crimes such as terrorism.
A key theme that emerged from the closed-door meeting yesterday was that regional countries must step up cooperation because militants are regrouping.
Although more than 200 members of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) have been arrested in the past two years, the militant group still has an estimated 2,000 on the loose, including key operatives, said Mr Downer.
'More attacks which threaten the safety and security of our citizens are inevitable,' he told the two-day conference, held just 20km away from the spot where a bomb went off in 2002, killing more than 200 people.
The JI was linked to the attack, which killed 88 Australians.
In his address, Mr Downer made clear the threat did not end with the Bali bombing: 'Terrorist groups are cooperating across the region... using one country to train in, another to raise funds in and another for safe haven. They are working together to maximise the impact of their activities.'
As for the JI, he said, it continues to recruit young men for leadership roles.
Such a threat cannot be negotiated away, and demands a 'comprehensive and cooperative regional response', he said.
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who opened the conference, urged Asia-Pacific countries to step up cooperation.
'A solid coordination mechanism is necessary... only in this way would we be able to penetrate the terrorist networks and cells that are neatly, tightly and closely built,' she said.
Jakarta and Canberra want to use the processes developed in their Bali bombing probe as a model for wider regional cooperation.
Although plans for the anti-terror centre in Jakarta remain sketchy, officials said the centre would track information about militants and share it with law enforcement agencies from countries in the region.
There are plans for a forensics laboratory as well as training for policemen in investigative techniques, bomb disposal, hostage rescue and strike-force tactics.
The conference was attended by top-level officials from 25 countries, including United States Attorney-General John Ashcroft.
Mr Ashcroft, the first US Cabinet member to visit Indonesia since President George W. Bush made a stopover in Bali last October, told a news conference yesterday that Washington's anti-terror fight was not directed against Islam.
'Our war is not a war against any religion. It is a war against terrorists,' he said.
Indonesia is a powder keg.
But not even close to the Middle East, and not in the same way, either.
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