Fed: Kopassus training resumes

AAP General News (Australia)
12-11-2005
Fed: Kopassus training resumes

CANBERRA, Dec 11 AAP - Australian and Indonesian special forces will train together
for the first time in seven years when the government lifts a ban on cooperation between
the elite troops.

Australia cut ties with Indonesia's Kopassus unit after militia trained by the troops
killed East Timorese in the lead up to the country's independence in 1999.

The unit will train with Australia's Special Air Service Regiment on a joint counter-terrorism
exercise, called Dawn Kookaburra, in Perth early next year.

Despite past human rights abuses by the Indonesian unit, Defence Minister Robert Hill
defended the decision to resume cooperation, saying it could help save Australian lives.

"In this era of heightened terrorist threats it is in Australia's interests to engage
with regional special forces, such as Kopassus, to safeguard the lives of Australians
and Australian interests abroad," he said in a statement.

"The bombings in Bali in October 2005 further highlighted the need for regional countries
to work together in combating this common threat.

"Kopassus Unit 81 has the most effective capability to respond to a counter hijack
or hostage recovery threat in Indonesia.

"In the event of a terrorist incident, the safety of Australians in Indonesia could
well rest on the effective cooperation between TNI (Indonesia's armed forces) and the
ADF (Australian Defence Force)."

Kopassus Unit 81 is the Indonesian special forces' counter-terrorism team.

Exercise Dawn Kookaburra will focus on resolving hijack and hostage situations.

It will be the first exercise of its kind involving the two countries since 1997.

Australian defence ties with Indonesia grew through the 1980s and 1990s, mainly between
Kopassus and the Perth-based SAS.

But they ended abruptly in 1999 when Australia led the international mission to East Timor.

Any links with Kopassus are controversial because of long-running accusations of human
rights violations in East Timor and the Indonesian provinces of Aceh and West Papua.

A report released a year ago found Kopassus had not reformed and urged the ADF not to renew ties.

The paper, by the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University,
said much of Kopassus' role would continue to be viewed in Australia and elsewhere as
profoundly inappropriate, morally and legally unacceptable.

AAP rp/mon/sd

KEYWORD: MILITARY LEAD

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