Indonesia modifies peacekeeping proposal

Indonesia modifies peacekeeping proposal

Agence France-Presse, Jakarta

Indonesia has modified its proposal for a regional peacekeeping force after other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) expressed reservations, officials said on Tuesday.

Indonesian foreign ministry official Sugeng Raharjo said some unspecified countries expressed reservations about the phrase "establishing an ASEAN peacekeeping force and its deployment mechanism."

He said the revised plan calls for a network of peacekeeping centers.

"Some countries don't have peacekeeping centers yet but they recognize the need for developing a regional peacekeeping arrangement," Raharjo told AFP. "The wording was changed but the spirit is the same."

Raharjo said ASEAN officials also agreed to draw up an ASEAN Charter.

Foreign ministry spokesman Marty A. Natalegawa said that despite some changes and modifications in the draft plan the proposals remained intact.

The group's officials met on Monday and Tuesday to discuss a draft plan for an ASEAN Security Community, proposed by current chairman Indonesia.

Indonesia has pushed for a regional peacekeeping force that could help settle conflicts like in Indonesia's Aceh province, Mindanao in the southern Philippines and southern Thailand.

Other elements in the proposed community include political development, conflict prevention and peace-building.

But Singapore has expressed reservations at the peacekeeping plan, arguing that ASEAN is not a security or defense organization. Vietnam is also reportedly cool to the idea.

The ASEAN Security Community was one of three "pillars" included in a concord endorsed last October at an ASEAN summit in Bali.

Together with the creation of economic and socio-cultural communities, it lays the foundation for the creation of a European-style ASEAN Community by 2020.

ASEAN foreign ministers meeting will discuss the action plan when they meet in Jakarta at the end of this month.