Indonesia wants friendly solution to Sudan crisis

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto said here yesterday Indonesia wishes to see a stable Sudan and expressed the hope that differences with its neighbors could be solved in a friendly atmosphere.

The President, when receiving the credentials of the new Sudanese Ambassador to Indonesia, Hassan Ibrahim Gad El Karim, said: "All countries should respect each other and not intervene in other countries' internal affairs."

Soeharto said that although Indonesia was busy with various development programs, "we always follow the events around us including those in Africa."

Sudan is in dispute with Ethiopia and Eritrea after they gave support to Sudanese rebels.

President Soeharto also accepted the credentials of the new Bangladeshi Ambassador to Indonesia, Zia-Us-Shams-Chowdhury yesterday.

To Chowdhury, the President said that Indonesia and Bangladesh needed to improve bilateral cooperation, particularly through the two countries' private sectors.

"In regional forums, (Bangladeshi's) hopes to promote cooperation between the regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia are not only interesting, but have actually developed into an inevitable trend in the globalization era." (swe)