US further eases arms embargo on Indonesia

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2005

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has lifted a ban on the government sale of non-lethal defense equipment to Indonesia as part of a step-by-step process to restore full military ties frozen due to human rights abuses, the State Department announced.

It said the decision was made on Wednesday, when Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with US leader George W. Bush at the White House and reaffirmed his commitment to reforms in the military, accused in the past of gross rights abuses.

"We decided to renew government-to-government transfers of nonlethal defense articles and services to the government of Indonesia," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.

"That means we can do foreign military sales in excess defense articles,"...