Security beefed up in Brunei for summit

Security beefed up in Brunei for summit

Patrick McDowell, Associated Press, Bandar Seri Begawan

Police and soldiers were on the watch for threats of anthrax and
other terror attacks on Sunday as leaders from Southeast Asia and
China, Japan and South Korea began arriving for an annual summit.
Plans were ready for an emergency air evacuation of the leaders
in the event of a crisis.

As they waited for their leaders, senior officials from the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were finalizing a
declaration against terrorism, but remained divided over whether
to draft a formal regional convention to fight it.

Drafts of the declaration have condemned the Sept. 11 attacks
on the United States but avoided addressing the U.S.-led
airstrikes on Afghanistan. Malaysia and Indonesia, two leading
ASEAN members with large Muslim populations, oppose the bombing
campaign.

The global pall cast by terrorism since Sept. 11 looked
certain to overshadow economic issues that normally dominate the
summit between the 10 Southeast Asian nations and their key
partners in Northeast Asia -- China, Japan and South Korea.

Ahmad Damit, director of summit security, said more than 2,000
police and army personnel -- much of this tiny sultanate's
security forces -- would be on duty through the summit Monday and
Tuesday.

No specific terror threats have been made, Ahmad said, but
officials have received training about anthrax and will be on
alert for suspicious letters and packages. Bomb-sniffing dogs are
deployed around summit venues, and border and maritime patrols
have been stepped up.

Should an attack occur, plans have been made to airlift out
the 13 leaders, Ahmad told reporters. "We have a contingency plan
in place. In an emergency, the leaders will be airlifted out of
Brunei. We have put our army helicopters on standby," he said.

"We are ready to deal with any form of anthrax threat," he
added.

Senior ASEAN officials have stumbled over a push by the
Philippines for a convention that would formalize the region's
fight against terrorism, said Lauro Baja, the Philippines'
undersecretary of foreign affairs.

The proposal was supported by nine countries but opposed by
one, Baja said, refusing to identify the nation. Other officials
said the holdout was Singapore, whose officials apparently had no
mandate to discuss a convention. Singaporean officials said they
could not immediately comment.

"There is still no consensus on the declaration. We are still
working on it," Baja told The Associated Press. "It is not even a
decision to draft a convention on terrorism, but just to see if
it is feasible to have a convention. ASEAN is the only regional
grouping which doesn't have such a convention."

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Decisions are made by consensus.

The Philippines is struggling against an extremist Moro
separatist faction, the Abu Sayyaf, which is said to have links
with the terror organization led by Osama bin Laden, blamed by
the United States for the attacks on the World Trade Center and
Pentagon that left thousands dead. Malaysia and Indonesia also
face problems from local militants.

The U.S.-led bombing campaign in Afghanistan, aimed at
toppling the Taliban regime that has sheltered bin Laden, has
drawn protests in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country,
and in Malaysia. Appeals to halt the bombings are intensifying as
the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan nears.

ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino said the summit
leaders would discuss terrorism "only in a very general way" but
that ASEAN recognizes the need for more regional cooperation.

Ramadhan is a "worry of some governments but this declaration
is all about ASEAN cooperation on terrorism, not about fighting
in Afghanistan," Severino said.

The ASEAN leaders are also scheduled to discuss progress in
forming an internal free trade area, and possibly creating a free
trade area with China.