Indonesia Peacekeepers Play Important Role in Global Peace Process: Minister

Jakarta, (Antara) - Indonesian peacekeepers play an important role in maintaining international peace and security, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said.

"Indonesia's participation in the UN peacekeeping mission is the implementation of the mandate of the fourth paragraph of the preamble of the 1945 Constitution to create world order and is an integral part of its foreign policy and diplomacy," the minister noted in a press statement released on Monday.

She made the remarks while addressing a pre-assignment training course for the  mechanical battalion task force of the Indonesian military's Garuda Contingent (Konga) XXIII-K to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) at the Indonesian military's peacekeeping mission center in Jakarta's southern outskirts of Sentul on Monday.

The pre-assignment training is a routine program for Indonesian military personnel who will be deployed in a post-conflict area as a peacekeeping force.

The mechanical battalion task force comprises 850 personnel, including 18 women. They are scheduled to join UNIFIL in December 2016.

"Indonesia's participation in the  UNIFIL mission is part of the effort to support the creation of peace and stability in the Middle East, particularly Lebanon," Marsudi remarked.

The matter is relevant to the mandate set by the United Nations Security Council through Resolution 1701 of 2006, she added.

Indonesia has so far sent a total of 1,296 personnel to UNIFIL, making it the largest personnel contributor among 40 countries participating in the mission.(*)