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Indonesia, Australia hold

manoeuvre first time

SYDNEY: Indonesian troops for the first time have joined a major miltary exercise on Australian soil, and on Friday were "fighting" alongside local soldiers to retake a tiny outback town from a mock invading force.

About 130 Indonesian paratroopers and 290 Australian troops parachuted into the town of Wyndham early on Thursday, retaking its airstrip before advancing together into the remote settlement, about 3,000 km (1,900 miles) northwest of Sydney.

"They are trying to retake the town from the 'Orangeland' (enemy) forces," Australian army spokesman Colonel Andrew Reynolds said by telephone from the war-games command centre at an airforce base in northern Australia.

"They are working their way towards clearing the town of Orangelanders as we speak," he told Reuters on Friday morning, adding that all troops were armed with blank ammunition.

About 17,000 troops from eight nations are scheduled to take part in the four-week exercise, which began on August 1.

Codenamed Kangaroo 95, the exercise is based on Australia's chief military threat -- a low-level invasion from the direction of Asia. But it is also designed to strengthen regional military cooperation as part of the country's effort to engage Asia.

Indonesia was until recent times at the top of the Australian military's list of potential threats.

"Exercising with our neighbours is very important," said Defence Science and Personnel Minister Gary Punch, referring to the Indonesian military's participation this year.

"It increases the professionalism of both sides of course, but it increases the understanding and the affinity between the participant countries and that's very important...."

Troops from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, the United States, Britain and Canada are taking part in Kangaroo 95 across four million square km (1.5 million square miles) of Australia's sparsely populated northern outback.

Indonesia's participation comes at a time when stronger ties between Canberra and Jakarta have been tested by conflict over East Timor, which Indonesian forces invaded in 1975 and annexed the following year.

The conflict burst to the surface in July when Indonesia withdrew its ambassador-designate to Australia, retired Lieutenant-General Herman Mantiri, due to controversy in Australia over the appointment.

Australia had called for Mantiri to apologise for comments he made in support of the 1991 massacre of East Timorese mourners by Indonesian troops in the territory's capital, Dili.

The post of Indonesian ambassador to Canberra remains empty.

Indonesia's participation in Kangaroo 95 has itself drawn small protests in Australia by supporters of East Timorese independence. In one protest last week, an Indonesian flag was burnt, prompting a diplomatic protest from Jakarta.-Reuter