Pacific nations unite vs. terrorists

Pacific nations unite vs. terrorists

The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Asia-Pacific nations agreed on Thursday to intensify cooperation
in fighting terrorism in the region and to create common legal
mechanisms that would make it easier to prosecute and extradite
suspected terrorists.

They also set up two working groups -- law enforcement and
legal framework -- to bolster evidence and intelligence sharing,
encourage extradition treaties and improve cooperation among the
police forces of the Asia-Pacific region.

Indonesia, which has been struck by several terrorist attacks
since December 2000, is to chair the law enforcement working
group, which is tasked with conducting information sharing and
exchanging operational experiences, crime data and intelligence.

The legal framework working group, on the other hand, is to be
led by Australia. The group will be responsible for identifying
areas for improvement and assistance in order to strengthen
regional legal framework.

"... including the areas of mutual legal assistance and
extradition for terrorist related offenses, implementation of UN
Security Council resolutions and UN counterterrorism related
conventions," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said
at the end of a two-day regional conference on counterterrorism
in Bali on Thursday.

Ministers and other senior officials from more than two dozen
nations -- including U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft --
convened in a heavily guarded beach resort in Nusa Dua, Bali on
Wednesday and Thursday and resolved to give a transnational
response to a transnational threat.

They also urged states to improve maritime and aviation
security, stop the flow of terrorist funding and prevent the
illegal movement of nuclear, chemical and biological materials,
the statement said.

The agreements, however, fell short of enacting more far-
reaching proposals that proponents say would be most effective in
fighting terrorism, such as establishing a regional police force
or a region-wide extradition treaty.

Last July, terror suspect Mas Selamat Kastari, who is accused
by Singapore of plotting to crash a plane into Changi airport,
was sent to prison in Indonesia for 18 months for immigration
offenses. The two neighbors have no extradition agreement.

The ministers also called on states to take measures "to
prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction,
their means of delivery and materials and technologies related to
their manufacture".

Delegates said the Bali conference served as an opportunity to
keep the terrorism issue at the top of government agendas.

"We may not achieve 100 percent of our objectives, but without
talking we may achieve zero," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed
Hamid Albar said.

Downer on Wednesday said more terror attacks were
"inevitable," and urged delegates to build on the police
crackdown and scores of arrests that have damaged the al-Qaeda-
linked Jamaah Islamiyah terrorist group, blamed for the Bali
attack and others.

"Jamaah Islamiyah has been using Southeast Asian countries
that have open societies like Thailand, Malaysia and the
Philippines ... to move around," said Thailand's Deputy Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Sorajak Kasemsuvan.

In an interview with AP, he said last August's arrest of
Hambali, Jamaah Islamiyah's purported operations chief, was the
result of "very good" intelligence sharing among different
governments.

Ashcroft, meanwhile, urged senior Asia-Pacific officials to
boost cooperation but stopped short of offering Indonesia what it
most wants -- access to Asia's leading terror suspect, Hambali,
now in American custody.

Underscoring the continued threat of terrorism in Indonesia,
the world's largest Muslim country, officials announced on
Thursday that police on the island of Sulawesi had seized 19
bombs and five homemade firearms earlier this week.