Indonesian President touches down in Australia

CANBERRA - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono embraced Australian Prime Minister John Howard at the start of his visit to Australia on Sunday as the two nations united in grief over last week's earthquake and Saturday's helicopter crash.

Yudhoyono's visit was designed to focus on stronger security ties with Australia, and to thank Australia for its support for Indonesia after the December 26 tsunami which left 220,240 dead or listed as missing in the Indonesian province of Aceh.

But his arrival took on extra poignancy after nine Australian military personnel were killed when their helicopter crashed as they were delivering medical help to the victims of last Monday's magnitude 8.7 earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Nias.

Yudhoyono, who earlier offered his condolences for the death in a phone call to Howard, embraced Howard when he arrived at Canberra's military airport late Sunday. The two will hold official talks in Canberra on Monday.

The tsunami, the earthquake which killed up to 1,300 people around Nias, and the Sea King helicopter crash are set to overshadow the visit, the first by an Indonesian President to Australia since Abdurrahman Wahid in 2001.

"It will obviously cast a pall over the visit in the sense that both the Indonesians and us have suffered great tragedy over the last week," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian television ahead of Yudhoyono's arrival.

Howard earlier said Yudhoyono rang him on Sunday, before the president boarded his plane for Australia, to pass on his condolences for the victims of Saturday's helicopter crash.

"I know he shares the sense of loss and grief at this very tragic incidence, and I thanked him for his expression of condolences on behalf of the Indonesian people," Howard told reporters in Sydney.

Australia and Indonesia have often had a rocky relationship, especially after Australia led a UN-mandated intervention force into East Timor in 1999 to quell violence by pro-Indonesia militias after East Timor voted for independence from Jakarta.

Australia and Indonesia signed a security deal in 1995 that committed the countries to ministerial consultations about security, increasing cooperation and consultations in the event of a threat to either country or to regional security.

But the deal collapsed after Indonesia objected to Australia's involvement in East Timor, where more than 1,000 people were killed in fighting, with most deaths blamed on pro-Jakarta militias.

Ties have improved in recent years and efforts to strengthen Australia's relationship with the world's most populous Muslim country gained momentum after Yudhoyono became Indonesia's first directly-elected president last October.

Australia and Indonesian police worked closely after the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, and again after a car bomb exploded outside Australia's Jakarta embassy last September, killing 10 Indonesians.

Howard and Yudhoyono have already met each other several times, most recently at a regional tsumani response meeting in Jakarta in January, and Howard was reportedly the first leader to contact Yudhoyono after the December 26 tsunami,

Australia was also quick to pledge troops and a record A$1 ($1.09) billion in aid to Indonesia over four years to help with the tsunami recovery.

- REUTERS