BATAM (Indonesia), June 26: Australia assured Indonesia on Monday it had no wish to be a staging point for separatists from Papua province, the leaders of both countries said after a meeting to mend strained ties.

Bilateral relations soured after Canberra granted temporary visas three months ago to 42 asylum seekers from Papua who sailed to Australia and accused Indonesia of conducting genocide in their homeland, a claim Jakarta denies.

Indonesian officials said Australia’s decision to grant asylum undermined Jakarta’s sovereignty over Papua and gave credence to the separatist movement in that jungle-clad area.

“We do not wish to see separatist movements arise in any part of Indonesia. We believe Papua’s future lies as part of the Indonesian republic,” Australian Prime Minister John Howard said after talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

“My government does not wish to see Australia used as a staging post to support or encourage separatist movements,” he told a news conference after the summit on Indonesia’s Batam Island near Singapore.

Indonesia recalled its ambassador in Canberra soon after the visas were given to the Papuan asylum seekers.

Its envoy only returned this month to help arrange Monday’s summit.

Yudhoyono said he was reassured by Australia’s statements.

“I also received assurance that the Australian government will not allow its development assistance to be used to fund political activities or separatist agendas in Papua,” he said.

The leaders met after criticism and pressure from politicians in both countries, marking a new phase in the fluctuating relations between the huge, developing Asian nation and its western-style southern neighbour.

Australian government lawmakers last week forced Howard to postpone changes in refugee laws which he wanted to pass ahead of the summit.

Under that plan, which critics said was designed to placate Indonesia, all asylum seekers who reach Australia by boat would be sent to Nauru or Papua New Guinea for processing.

There would also be no guarantee they would be allowed to settle in Australia even if found to be genuine refugees.

However, the political revolt made the Australian parliament shelve the changes until at least August.

Indonesian politicians, on the other hand, have been furious with Australian policies and concerns over human rights in Papua, regarding them to be intrusive.

The Papua region, comprising Papua and West Irian Jaya provinces, has been a hotbed of separatism since Indonesia incorporated the area in 1969.

The summit also touched on bilateral anti-terror cooperation, political turbulence in East Timor, a neighbour to which both countries have been closely linked, and the release from jail of Abu Bakar Bashir, linked to the 2002 Bali blasts that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Australia had protested against Bashir’s recent release after completing his prison term.

Howard said Yudhoyono could understand the feelings of his countrymen over the release.

Yudhoyono said the decision to free Bashir ‘does not detract or weaken the Indonesian government’s commitment and efforts in combating terrorism today and tomorrow’.—Reuters