Arroyo to appoint new envoy to RI

Arroyo to appoint new envoy to RI

PHILIPPINES: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will appoint her outgoing military chief of staff as the next Philippine ambassador to Indonesia, her spokesman said on Thursday.

Gen. Efren Abu "is most suited to be the ambassador to Indonesia because he and the Indonesian President (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) were classmates in military school," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

Abu, who is due to retire next week, has not publicly commented on his prospective new post.

"I think this offer will be accepted by Gen. Abu," Bunye said.

Abu and Susilo, a former army general and security minister, were classmates at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Texas in the early 1990s.

The Philippines and Indonesia share a common sea border and both are grappling with threats from the Indonesian-based extremist group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), blamed for deadly attacks on the resort island of Bali in 2002, a Manila commuter train in 2000 and a Philippine ferry last year.

The Philippines' former envoy to Indonesia, Leonides Caday, was nearly killed in a Jamaah Islamiyah bomb attack at his Jakarta residence in 2000. -- AP