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Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Australia negotiates anti-terror accord with RP
By Al Jacinto
ZAMBOANGA CITY -- Australian Defense Chief Robert Hill on Monday visited a potent area in the southern Philippines, previously attacked by the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, to discuss anti-terrorism measures with Filipino security officials.
Hill said Australia is negotiating an accord with the Philippines to deploy troops to help train Filipino soldiers battling Islamic militants.
The so-called status-of-forces agreement would make Australia the second country after the United States to be given permission to train troops in the Philippines, which is seen as the weakest link in the war on terror in Southeast Asia because of the presence of terror training camps.
"I hope that (agreement) will be completed in the next few months," Hill said in Zamboanga city, where he met with US and Philippine military officials as part of four-day counter-terrorism talks.
Filipino officials said Hill arrived in Zamboanga City under tight security and met behind closed doors with Philippine military commanders in the highly guarded Southern Command base.
"We are here to talk about how we can strengthen our sea and air defense system. And exchange intelligence information about the Jemaah Islamiya," Hill briefly told reporters after a meeting with Southern Command chief Lieutenant General Edilberto Adan and Filipino Defense Undersecretary Antonio Santos.
Australia has provided limited counter-terrorism training to Filipino security forces battling terrorists, but Hill said his government wanted to play a greater role, stressing that reducing threats here would benefit Australia and the whole region.
Although Australia has not been hit by a major terror strike, bomb attacks blamed on the al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group have killed nearly 100 Australians in Indonesia's resort island of Bali. The Australian Embassy in Jakarta was also bombed last year.
"We're obviously very keen to basically ensure that JI as an organization is not able to move freely around the region, and the whole region is engaged in defeating this threat," Hill told reporters.
"In the era of terrorism, where we face a joint threat, we think we can do more," Hill said. "We're looking to increase support for the Philippine armed forces as the front line against the threat."
However, Australia has no plans to get involved in combat operations, Hill said.
Adan said the Philippines and Australia are working on how to further strengthen bilateral cooperation to fight international terrorism.
"We are working closely with Australia and other countries, such as the United States and other allies to fight international terrorism," Adan said.
While in Zamboanga City, Hill had lunch with Mayor Celso Lobregat and senior military officials at a naval base. He later briefly toured the navy base and spoke with a group of US military officers involved in local anti-terror training.
Zamboanga City had been targeted in the past by the Abu Sayyaf. In July, it detonated two powerful bombs in the busy business district, wounding at least 26 people.
And a ferry in nearby Basilan island was also bombed in August, killing three passengers and wounding more than 3 dozen people.
The United States labeled the Abu Sayyaf group as a foreign terrorist organization.
It also offered as much as $5 million bounty for the capture of known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including its chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, for the killing of two kidnapped US citizens in 2002 in the southern Philippines.
Last week, the chief of Australia's elite special forces, Major General Mike Hindmarsh, arrived in Zamboanga City and was briefed by senior Filipino military commanders on the current security situation in the south where US-backed soldiers are hunting down Jemaah Islaliya bomb-makers Pitono, alias Dulmatin, and Umar Patek, tagged as behind the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people.
Canberra said elite Australian soldiers from the Special Air Service Regiment and members of the spy agency Australian Security Intelligence Organization were closely working with the Philippine military to hunt down Dulmatin and Umar Patek who are believed to be hiding or in the company of Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Mindanao.
Washington offered as much as $11 million for the capture of Dulmatin, a Malaysian electronic expert, and Umar Patek, an Indonesian, who helped assembled the bombs that were used in the Bali attacks.
The US is also helping Manila fight homegrown terrorism and even provided training to Filipino soldiers since the past four years. Australia, on the other hand, has provided assistance in post-bombing investigations in the south.
The Philippines and Australia are cooperating on how to improve maritime and air surveillance and response systems to develop practical ways to strengthen security in the region.
Canberra and Manila signed a defense cooperation agreement in 1995 and since then Australia has been stepping up security assistance to the Philippines. In 2003, Philippines and Australia signed agreements combating terrorism and transnational crime.
But in 2002, Prime Minister John Howard said he would support launching a preemptive military strikes against terrorists based in neighboring countries if they posed a threat to Australia.
Howard's statement drew outrage and angry reactions from the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. (Sun.Star Zamboanga/AP/Sunnex)
(October 18, 2005 issue)
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