US eases Indonesia arms ban

By Tim Johnston
BBC News, Jakarta

Ties have warmed between Washington and Jakarta

The US has announced that it is to partially lift its embargo on selling arms to Indonesia.

The move will allow the sale of non-lethal items such as transport vehicles and communications equipment.

It is a reward for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is currently visiting Washington.

But rights groups attacked the move, saying that despite efforts to make Indonesia's military more accountable, its rights record was unsatisfactory.

The partial lifting of the arms embargo is a reward for the improvements Indonesia has made in curbing the abuses of its military.

But by maintaining the block on the sale of weapons, Washington has retained the ability to keep up pressure for more reform.

Ghosts of Timor

The embargo was initially imposed in 1992 after the army killed more than 200 protesters in East Timor. It was tightened seven years later when the military imposed a reign of terror in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent East Timor's people voting to split from Indonesia.

Successive Indonesian governments have embarked on the difficult task of making the military more accountable, and analysts in Jakarta say the partial lifting is a finely judged move.

They say it would have been damaging for President Yudhoyono and his reform programme if he had returned from his visit to the United States with nothing to show for it.

The warming relationship between Washington and Jakarta has been driven by both President Yudhoyono's reformist programme and Indonesia's position on the front-line in the war on terror.

Although Indonesia - with the largest Muslim population in the world - is no supporter of the war in Iraq, it has come down hard on its home-grown Islamic militants, and has co-operated well with the United States on other joint threats.