Manila (AsiaNews/Agencies) Southeast Asian leaders "could agree to adopt an anti-terrorism convention" at their next meeting that will be held in the Philippines in December, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said yesterday.
Arroyo said "a shared effort was necessary in the struggle against militants using terrorism in the region" and proposed a "sort of territorial pact, signed by the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations to forge a stronger front against terrorism."
Concretely, this would serve to "improve co-operation among the states to hunt down and prosecute militants suspected of actions in individual nations and to prevent attacks."
The proposal is part of a package that will be discussed by ASEAN leaders from 11 to13 December in Cebu. "We will, hopefully, have a convention to make the battle against terrorism more cohesive," Arroyo said. "Southeast Asian countries should help each other in this fight."
A representative of the government of Manila said the proposed pact would call on signatories to allow the extradition of terror suspects and to have greater information exchanges and formal co-operation in tracking militants. The draft has already been sent to members of the Association.
The South-East Asian region is held to be a "crucial front" in the war on terror launched by the United States: most groups linked to al-Qaeda are based here. And it was here that some of the bloodiest post-11 September attacks took place, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines forged an anti-terrorism coalition a year after the attacks on the Twin Towers. They were later joined by Cambodia and Thailand.
