ASEAN to intensify counter-terrorism efforts

Channelnewsasia.com, 01 March 2009 0517 hrs 

Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah(L),Vietnam PM Nguyen Tan Dung(C),Philippine President Gloria Arroyo(R)arrive for dinner

HUA HIN, Thailand - ASEAN states will intensify efforts to fight militants and pledge to work for the full implementation of a regional counter-terrorism pact this year, according to a draft seen by AFP Saturday. 

The document, to be adopted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders at the end of an annual summit on Sunday, said the bloc will "promote effective implementation" of a comprehensive plan of action to fight terrorism and cooperate to address its root causes. 

Southeast Asia is the base for Jemaah Islamiyah, the militant network blamed for a string of bloody attacks in the region including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people -- many of them foreign tourists. 

Muslim separatist insurgencies are meanwhile being waged in southern Thailand and in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. 

The counter-terrorism plan is contained in a blueprint for an ASEAN Political-Security Community to be adopted by Southeast Asian leaders on Sunday in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin. 

A draft of the document said ASEAN would "work towards the entry into force of the ASEAN Convention on Counter-Terrorism by 2009". 

The convention, signed in January 2007, provides a framework for regional cooperation to "counter, prevent and suppress terrorism in all its forms and manifestations". 

It calls for the exchange of intelligence and the prevention of one ASEAN member's territory to plan, finance or facilitate attacks on another. 

The wide-ranging blueprint also contains ASEAN's commitment to fight corruption, combat maritime piracy and develop an "early warning system to prevent the occurrence/escalation of conflicts". 

ASEAN chair and summit host Thailand is embroiled in a border dispute with fellow ASEAN member Cambodia. 

ASEAN members Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and the Philippines have competing claims on the Spratlys island chain in the South China Sea along with China and Taiwan. 

- AFP /ls