Terrorism, Iraq war on agenda for Straw's Southeast Asian visit
Terrorism, Iraq war on agenda for Straw's Southeast Asian visit
Agence France-Presse, Singapore
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw arrived in Singapore on Wednesday on a whirlwind series of meetings with Southeast Asian leaders to discuss terrorism and a possible war against Iraq.
Straw met first with Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, and was later to hold talks with Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar. He is to fly to Indonesia for a meeting on Thursday with President Megawati Soekarnoputri, and will have talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
Details of Straw's visit were cloaked in secrecy in Singapore, but the British High Commission (embassy) in Malaysia said the talks would focus on "bilateral and international issues, including the war against terrorism."
"At a time when the world faces many troubling issues, Mr Straw's visit demonstrates the importance the British government places on Malaysia, both as a leading Islamic country and as the future chair of the NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) and the OIC (Organization of the Islamic Conference)," Britain's ambassador to Malaysia, Bruce Cleghorn, said.
In Jakarta, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Indonesia on Thursday would ask Straw to explain "what plans Britain and the United States have and what the U.S. will do" against Iraq, Wirayuda told reporters.
"We will ask what evidence they use as the basis of their accusation that Iraq owns weapons of mass destruction."
A ministry spokesman had said earlier that terrorism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and North Korea would also be on the agenda.
Straw was also Thursday to address the headquarters of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama, which claims 40 million members.
No immediate details were released from Straw's Singapore meetings. A High Commission official said she was "not able to give out any information at this time," and the foreign ministry called Straw's quick trip a "working visit."
Singapore and Malaysia have led a regional clampdown on terrorism, detaining more than 100 alleged members of Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), the regional ally of the al-Qaeda network behind the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
During a visit to Indonesia last month, Goh said terrorism still posed "a very grave threat" to Southeast Asia as many JI members remained at large.
Indonesia clamped down on terrorism after the Oct. 12 Bali bombing, blamed on JI, which killed more than 190 people including at least 22 Britons.
Britain is the strongest supporter of the U.S. stance that Iraq must disarm or face attack. On Tuesday it announced plans to deploy a naval force comprising 3,000 marine commandos and called up 1,500 reservists in readiness for a possible war.
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, and predominantly Muslim Malaysia are strongly opposed to unilateral U.S. military action against Iraq.
"We believe that the procedures established in UN Resolution 1441 have to be exhausted," Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said from Jakarta.
"The issue of Iraq should be resolved through the United Nations and there's no room for unilateralism."
Singapore has said Unite Nations Security Council resolutions on Iraq, including 1441 which demands that Iraq disarm, should be respected. Any war, he added, should be "swift and clean".
Straw, in an interview published on Wednesday, said no time limit could be placed on the work of UN inspectors searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
He suggested to The Financial Times that a report Jan. 27 from the inspectors would not on its own be crucial in determining whether President Saddam Hussein had breached a Security Council resolution demanding he disarm.