Hassan Wirayuda meets top U.S. official

Hassan Wirayuda meets top U.S. official

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda met U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in Washington on Friday, and discussed Iraq, among other issues, as the U.S.'s embassy in Jakarta still closed by a security scare.

Hassan lunched with Armitage, as Secretary of State Colin Powell was at the United Nations in New York, drumming up support for a harsh Security Council resolution critical of Iraq.

"They discussed a broad range of bilateral, regional and global political and economic issues," said a State Department official on condition of anonymity.

"The issues included Iraq, U.S. relations with the Islamic world, the conflict in Aceh, counterterrorism, the ad hoc tribunal in East Timor and norms for civil military relations," the official said.

The meeting went ahead after Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri was quoted as saying that the United States should not have closed its embassy because its security was guaranteed.

"Such a thing should not have been done," Megawati said, quoted by the evening Suara Pembaruan daily.

"Indonesia as a host will treat its guests well and take good care of them," she said, speaking on Thursday in Egypt, where she was on a three-day visit.

The State Department official was unable to say if Armitage and Hassan discussed the embassy closure.

The U.S. embassy and consulate general in Surabaya have been closed since Tuesday, the eve of the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

U.S. officials blamed those attacks on Osama bin Laden's al- Qaeda terrorist network, the same network which Ambassador Ralph Boyce linked to the threat against U.S. missions here.

Washington is concerned Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, may be home to al-Qaeda sympathisers.

Most Indonesians practise a moderate brand of Islam. -- AFP