Asia and Africa begin AASROC meet in Bandung

Asia and Africa begin AASROC meet in Bandung

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Bandung

Senior officials will begin the Asia-Africa Sub-Regional
Organization Conference (AASROC) in Bandung on Monday, with the
goal of reviving the spirit of cooperation between the two
continents.

Security for the meeting will be extremely tight after an
explosive device was found about five kilometers from the venue.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri will officially open the
conference on Tuesday, when at least 25 ministers from Asian and
African nations will begin meeting. About 20 international
observers will be present.

Delegates from the Philippines will be absent due to the
military revolt in Manila.

The conference will be cochaired by Indonesian Minister of
Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda and his South African counterpart
Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

The meeting is expected to bolster mutual support in
addressing the various security challenges in Asia and Africa,
ranging from separatist movements to terrorism.

"We need to build a strategic partnership, which we have
allowed to lapse over the years," the spokesman for the
Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marty Natalegawa, said on
Saturday.

He said the two continents, with their fragile security
situations, needed to tackle problems such as illegal immigrants
and other transnational crimes.

"We have to compare notes on how we have so far handled these
crimes, and we will be able to share experiences based on parity,
with none of us dictating to each other," Marty said.

He said the relevance of the upcoming conference was that the
two continents believed that these problems could be handled more
effectively by working together.

The conference is expected to yield agreements on
comprehensive strategic partnerships in security and stability,
and on economic development.

Megawati introduced the idea of holding the conference last
year to mark the commemoration of the Asia-Africa Conference in
1955, which was presided over by her father, founding president
Sukarno.

The 1955 meeting, also held in the West Java capital of
Bandung, led to the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement during the
Cold War era. It also produced the Dasa Sila Bandung document,
which underlined the equal partnership between Asian and African
countries.

However, after the Cold War ended with the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1991, along with the lingering economic and
security problems plaguing the two continents, each member sought
its own way in getting support from developed countries.

This resulted in the shunting aside of the common
understanding between Asian and African nations to keep their
voice from being dominated by developed countries.

The current conference is considered a preparatory meeting for
the 50th celebration of the Bandung Conference in 2005.

Megawati will open the conference on Tuesday at the historical
Merdeka Building, where the Asian-African Conference took place
in 1955.

Marty said the conference should be more than a nostalgic
meeting to remember the achievements of Sukarno.

"We do not have any formal forum to bridge the two continents
and we need to establish such relations again," he said.

Meanwhile, police in Bandung said on Sunday they were
tightening security ahead of the AASROC meeting after a suspected
bomb was discovered near the conference venue.

West Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Muryan Faizal Saladin,
however, dismissed the discovery of the explosive device as a
"significant threat" to security, and urged conference
participants and locals not to fear for their safety.

"We have to clarify that what was found was not a bomb. It was
merely a mineral water bottle filled with a paint-like substance
and was unlikely to explode. The blast heard by people was from
the bomb squad destroying the bottle," Muryan told The Jakarta
Post.

He said about 2,600 police and military personnel had been
deployed across the city to safeguard the conference, adding that
many of the personnel would be plainclothes officers stationed at
hotels where participants were staying and other locations.

Bandung was normal on Sunday, with residents looking
unconcerned about security. People visited shopping malls, hotels
and other public places as normal.