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.