Indonesia ready to facilitate reconciliation in Afghanistan

Antara News, Friday, January 29, 2010 17:01 WIB

London (ANTARA News) - Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Jakarta was ready to act as a facilitator of reconciliation among the warring parties in Afghanistan if requested.

Speaking to ANTARA after attending an international conference on Afghanistan here Thursday, he said Indonesia would share its considerable experience in solving domestic conflicts.

What needed to be prioritized in efforts to help Afghanistan was a development program and a political strategy to bring about reconciliation among the waring factions, he said.

Co-hosted by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the London conference was aimed at supporting the transfer of responsibility for security matters to Kabul.

Natalegawa said he had told more than 70 foreign ministers at the conference that Indonesia was ready to share its experience in handling domestic conflicts, and facilitate reconciliation if all the factions there so wished.

Indonesia and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon attended the conference at the invitation of the British government.

"Of course, we have been invited to see what role Indonesia can play in bridging the differences among the various parties in Afghanistan," he said.

Marty said Indonesia had special qualities that would enable it to play a role amid the fact that Afghanistan itself was not a country with less attention.

He also reconfirmed Indonesia`s commitment to supporting the South Asian country`s institutional capacity building process through such programs as education, health, and agriculture.

The process had taken place since 2003, he said.

The international community should listen to what Afghanistan did need to get rid of the unexpected or unwanted aids, he said.

Compared to two years ago, Western countries remained reluctant to help Afghanistan but this time more countries wanted to assist the country, he said.

Indonesia`s participation in the London conference had given it chances to directly hear the current situation and real condition of Afghanistan from its government.

Therefore, Indonesia could identify the country`s real needs. The conference itself produced a joint communique which underlined the importance of national unity and the people`s sense of ownership in Afghanistan`s development processes, he said.

On the sidelines of the London conference, Minister Marty Natalegawa said he had bilateral meetings with some of his counterparts, including US Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told newsmen that the London conference`s participants had renewed their commitment to "staring down international terrorism in Afghanistan".

"We have seen the resolve of the international community reflected by 70 of my colleagues, renewing a commitment to staring down international terrorism in Afghanistan," he said.

Minister Smith said a commitment to see the transfer of responsibility for security matters and development assistance and governance to the Afghanistan Government was one of the "very important aspects" of the London conference.

"We`ve also seen commitments from the Afghanistan Government through President Karzai on those issues where the international community needs to see progress."

"Not just security, but anti-corruption, anti-narcotics, provision of services to all of the people of Afghanistan, including and in particular, women and girls, and also a commitment to electoral reform," he said.

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