LONDON - An independent foreign affairs think-tank yesterday called for strict curbs on the sale of British arms to Indonesia, saying there were clear signs they would be used to suppress internal protests.
Saferworld called on the new Labour government to stick to its promise that from now on British foreign policy would revolve around human rights.
"Indonesia is a test case for Britain's new foreign policy. The British government should be quite clear that it will not furnish dictatorial regimes with their tools of repression," Saferworld executive director, Mr Paul Eavis, said.
Human rights activists accuse the Indonesian government of gross violations and say up to 200,000 people have died in the former Portuguese colony of East Timor since Jakarta sent in troops in 1975.