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Subject: AN: No guarantee US won't impose another military embargo, says US
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NO ONE CAN GUARANTEE US WON'T IMPOSE ANOTHER EMBARGO ON RI, SAYS US AMBASSADOR from ANTARA, The Indonesian National News Agency Jakarta, Aug 17 (ANTARA)- US Ambasador to Indonesia, B.Lynn Pascoe said that no one could guarantee that the US would not impose another arms embargo on Indonesia, but "everyone in Washington are trying to avoid it." "If you ask Mr.Rumsfeld (US Secretary of Defense Donald H.Rumsfeld), whether he could guaratee it, he would say that he cannot guarantee anything in the world in the next several years," Pascoe said in a press conference at his residence here on Thursday The US has limited its military assistance to Indonesia in the early 1990s, and halt its military assistance in the 1999-2005 period, because of alleged human rights abuse by Indonesia in its former East Timor province in 1999 However, he said, almost all parties in Washington DC at the moment believed that the bilateral relations between the US and Indonesia were so important that none of them wished for another arms embargo imposed on Indonesia "Everyone wants to avoid it," he said He explained that the positive trend of the the bilateral relations between the two countries served as the best guarantee that the US would not reimpose restrictions on its military assistance to Indonesia The US imposed an embargo on the purchase of US military weapons by Indonesia in 1999, but it was lifted at the end of 2005 President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono welcomed the Washington's decision saying that it would open a new era in the relations between the two countries as well as encourage their cooperation in fighting terrorism A recent statement of the office of the US Secretary of State , quoted by Voice of America (VoA), said that the lifting of the embargo was aimed at helping Indonesia modernize its military organization as well as improve its anti-terrorism drive The US said that Indonesia has reached significant progress in promoting democracy in a relatively short time
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