ARF members urged to work 'seriously' to fight terrorism

ARF members urged to work 'seriously' to fight terrorism

Ker Munthit, Associated Press, Phnom Penh

Cambodia's prime minister urged Asian and Western countries to
work "seriously" to combat rising terrorist threats in Southeast
Asia, a region many fear is becoming a breeding ground for
Islamic militancy.

"Concern for world security ... requires us to exert our best
efforts" to cooperate in the fight, Hun Sen said as he opened two
days of talks by foreign ministers of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

They will join their Asian and Western counterparts, including
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Australian Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer, at a 23-member Asian-Pacific regional
security meeting on Wednesday and Thursday. Japan, China and
Russia will also attend.

North Korea's nuclear ambitions, Myanmar's detention of pro-
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the SARS epidemic are high
on the agenda. But the less-decisive issue, terrorism, is
expected to dominate talks.

The arrest of eight suspected Islamic extremists in recent
weeks in Cambodia and neighboring Thailand have highlighted
security concerns in the region.

The men were accused of being members of Jamaah Islamiyah. The
regional hardline Islamic network is blamed for the Oct. 12
bombings that killed 202 people on the Indonesian resort island
of Bali. Four suspects were allegedly plotting attacks on
embassies in Bangkok.

"I sincerely urge (you) to work seriously and intensively to
forge effective responses to the potential threats to our
region," Hun Sen said.

ASEAN has long followed a policy of not commenting on its
members' internal affairs and the decision to discuss Suu Kyi at
all reflects the growing international pressure on Myanmar's
military regime to release the Nobel laureate.

"All of us in ASEAN wish Aung San Suu Kyi will be free, to be
able to do what she would like to do," the ASEAN secretary-
general, Ong Keng Yong, told The Associated Press on Monday.

"But we don't do it in a confrontational manner. We don't do
it in a way that make people feel completely unpleasant about
it."

Suu Kyi was detained on May 30 after a clash between her
supporters and a pro-government crowd in northern Myanmar. The
1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner has been kept incommunicado since
then, triggering international outcry.

Powell last week urged Myanmar's neighbors to put pressure on
its military rulers, calling them democracy-oppressing "thugs,"
but Ong said other important issues need to be discussed.

Powell will also try to muster support at the ASEAN Regional
Forum to help defuse the standoff over North Korea's suspected
nuclear weapons programs.

Tensions in the region have been mounting since October, when
U.S. officials said North Korea admitted having a covert nuclear
program, and ASEAN ministers want assurances that war will not
break out.

"A nuclear-weapons free Korea and a peaceful resolution to the
current tension through dialog" is essential for peace in the
region, the ASEAN foreign ministers said in a draft joint
communique to be issued on Tuesday.

ASEAN had hoped North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun
would attend the Phnom Penh meeting, adding weight to
discussions, but the North's delegation is being led by diplomat
Ho Jong, who arrived on Monday.

Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said the 10-member
ASEAN would urge Pyongyang to return to Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty, "but North Korea should also feel secure that it will not
face any aggression."

North Korea withdrew from the treaty and restarted its nuclear
facilities after Washington suspended free oil shipments. Last
week, Pyongyang threatened to develop a nuclear arsenal to deter
U.S. hostility.

Though severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is on the
decline, the regional grouping said it would discuss ways to
contain the disease's spread. SARS has killed nearly 780 people
worldwide, most of them in Asia, battering the tourist industry.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ARF comprises ASEAN plus Australia, Canada, China, the
European Union, India, Japan, Mongolia, North and South Korea,
New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia and the United States.