RI hopes U.S. will lift embargo

RI hopes U.S. will lift embargo

JAKARTA: The foreign ministry expressed the hope on Friday that the United States would end its military embargo against Indonesia by October this year as the country had taken the necessary measures to reform its military (TNI).

"The lifting of the embargo will enable us to buy lethal military equipment from the U.S.," Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director for North and Central America Dino Pati Djalal said on Friday.

U.S. Congress is due to reconvene in October.

The U.S. imposed a military embargo against Indonesia in 1999 following the TNI's failure to contain bloodthirsty rampages by pro-Indonesian militiamen before, during and after the United Nations-sponsored referendum in East Timor.

However the embargo has been gradually lifted since 2000.

Dino said Indonesia had submitted a list of non-lethal military equipment it wanted to buy, including spare parts, from the U.S. --JP