Australia moves to renew ties with Kopassus: Hill

Australia moves to renew ties with Kopassus: Hill

Agence France-Presse, Sydney, Australia

Australia is moving towards renewing cooperation with Indonesia's
Kopassus special forces, which have been accused of widespread
human rights abuses, Defense Minister Robert Hill said on
Thursday.

The commander of Kopassus' special counter-terrorism unit,
Detachment 18, attended a 15-nation meeting of special forces and
counter-terrorism officials held this week in Australia, Hill
said.

Asked if this was a sign Canberra was moving closer to
resuming counter-terrorism training with Kopassus after a six-
year break, Hill said this was in Australia's security interests.

"One can imagine a terrorist scenario in Indonesia where that
unit is called upon to respond," he said.

"In those circumstances we think it is very important that our
special forces know who is responding and know their capabilities
and be able to offer assistance -- it might be in intelligence --
to assist them in their task," he said.

Australia halted all cooperation with Kopassus in 1998
following allegations of human rights abuses in Aceh, East Timor
and West Papua.

But since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S.
and the October 2002 bombing on the Indonesian resort island of
Bali, the government has been considering a resumption of joint
training.

The foreign affairs spokeswoman for the opposition Democrats
party said a resumption of ties to Kopassus would be dangerous.

"There should be no re-establishing of links between the
Australian Defense Force and Kopassus until there is objective
evidence that Kopassus is committed to protecting human rights
and has brought all perpetrators of human rights violations to
justice," Natasha Stott Despoja said.

"The Democrats believe that any resumption of cooperation with
a military unit renowned for its disregard of human rights, and
with possible ties to terrorism, will be detrimental to long-term
stability in Indonesia, with implications for Australia's
security," she said.

The counter-terrorism conference in the rural town of Bowral
south of Sydney brought together special forces commanders and
other officials from the U.S. and 14 Asia-Pacific nations to
coordinate efforts to combat al-Qaeda and its Southeast Asian
allies.

Participants included the United States, China, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore
and Vietnam.

It was the first time special forces commanders and counter-
terror experts from so many nations in the region have been
brought together, a defense ministry spokesman said.