Date of publication: December 18, 2007
Source: International Herald Tribune
Lawmakers have agreed to boost military aid to Indonesia and the Philippines, but some of the money would be contingent on human rights improvements.
They also decided to bar all but a small amount of military aid to Sri Lanka until the Bush administration has certified that the Sri Lankan government had made certain improvements in its human rights practices.
The provisions were part of a $500 billion-plus (€347 billion-plus) spending bill agreed negotiators from the Senate and the House of Representatives that will pay for most of the federal government's 2008 budget.
The overall bill has been delayed by disagreements between Congress and President George W. Bush over its size and allocation of financing for the Iraq war. The compromise still will need to be approved by the full House and Senate and sent to Bush for his signature before it takes effect.
Congress is expected this week to pass the bill, which includes $35 billion (€24.3 billion) overall for the State Department and foreign aid programs.
The negotiators agreed to provide $15.7 million (€10.9 million) in direct military aid for Indonesia, matching the Bush administration's request for a country it sees as crucial to fighting terrorism in Southeast Asia. The bill would delay approval, however, of $2.7 million (€1.9 million) of the money until U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has reported to Congress that Indonesia had devised plans to:
-account for past human rights violations by the Indonesian military.
-allow public access to Papua province, where a small separatist army seeks independence.
-provide a deadline for completing a criminal investigation into the murder of Munir Said Thalib, a human rights activist and critic of Indonesia's military who was poisoned on an airline in 2004.
The United States eliminated military ties with Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, in 1999 to protest alleged rights abuses by Indonesian troops in breakaway East Timor. The ban was lifted in 2005 by the Bush administration, which views the Indonesian government as a bulwark against Islamic militancy. Figures do not include small amounts allocated for training.
The Philippines would see its aid improve slightly from $29.7 million (€20.6 million) in 2007 to $30 million (€20.8 million) this year. Of that, $2 million (€1.4 million) of the money would be contingent on the country cracking down on extrajudicial killings by government agents.
U.S. officials have expressed worry over a wave of killings of left-wing activists blamed on Philippine government forces. The officials are said to want Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's government to enforce reforms recommended by a U.N. official to prevent extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations before approving additional military aid.
Army officials have denied allegations that the military was behind most of the killings and have said the military has no policy of targeting civilians.
Lawmakers also linked military aid to Sri Lanka to the island's improving its rights record, looking to spur change on an island that has seen a two-decade struggle between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels seeking a separate homeland for Tamils, an ethnic minority.
The bill would block all but a small amount of military aid for activities to include surveillance cooperation from the Sri Lankan authorities.
The bill is an embarrassment for the administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which says its operations are meant to convince rebels that they cannot win a military victory.
Human rights groups have accused the government of committing a wide array of abuses in its fight against Tamil rebels.
The U.S. bill would make any military grants for Sri Lanka dependent on certification by the U.S. secretary of state that Sri Lanka has:
-prosecuted military officials alleged to have recruited child soldiers and committed extrajudicial executions.
-provided humanitarian groups and reporters access to Tamil areas of the country.
-agreed to allow the United Nations to establish a human rights office in the country.