Major General Karl. W. Eikenberry, strategic planning commander at the US military's Pacific Command, met General Endriartono Sutarto during a two-day visit to Indonesia.

Indonesian military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki said the two had held talks on Tuesday and Wednesday at the military headquarters in Jakarta.

"The discussion was aimed at improving US-Indonesia military cooperation through an exchange of information and views on security issues in which the two countries share the same interests," Basuki said.

The talks followed a similar meeting in Washington in April, Basuki said.

Indonesia is seeking full normalization of military ties with the United States after a joint investigation cleared the Indonesian army of involvement in the killing of two American teachers in Papua province in August 2002.

US justice authorities in June charged Free Papua Movement rebel Anthonius Wamang with the murders. The movement, which decried the US charges, has been fighting a sporadic separatist guerrilla war since 1963 in Papua.

The two teachers were among a group 10 Americans and one Indonesian who were ambushed near the US-owned Freeport gold and copper mine in the country's easternmost province.

Washington has halted most military-to-military contacts over Indonesian soldiers' atrocities in East Timor. US legislators have said they wanted an accounting for these and other abuses before ties can resume but the Papua case was seen as the major immediate obstacle.

WAR.WIRE