United States officials are debating when they might be able to resume military aid to Indonesia now that the US Department of Justice has indicted an alleged separatist for the murder of two Americans in Papua province in August 2002. "Everyone applauds that Indonesia has taken a step to cooperate with the [Federal Bureau of Investigation] to produce an indictment," a senior US official says. "But everyone thinks the investigation still isn't over and no one doubts there are other suspects," he says, alluding to the fact that more indictments are expected in the coming months. The official says the departments of State and Defence are discussing when to go to Congress to request that funding for the training of military officers be resumed. US

military aid to the Indonesian military was suspended in the early 1990s due to human-rights violations in East Timor, and more recently Congress has withheld funding for training Indonesian officers in the US until Jakarta helps complete the Papua investigation.

Congressional aides suggest that some in Congress are ready to resume military training now to bolster Indonesia's cooperation in fighting terrorism, while others want to wait for an FBI briefing on the progress of the murder investigation, and still others want to continue isolating Indonesia until punishment has been delivered for the rights violations in East Timor. The official says that some in the administration are proposing that the amount of money made available for officer training in fiscal year 2006, which begins on October 1, 2005, should be "significantly higher" than the $600,000 that would have been available in the current fiscal year.