Indonesian Armed Forces will send one battalion for the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan 0906122

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Defense News - Indonesia

 
 
Saturday, June 9, 2012, 07:22 AM
 
Indonesian Armed Forces will send one battalion for the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan.
The Indonesian Armed Force (TNI) will send one battalion of peacekeepers to Darfur, Sudan, to join the United Nations peace mission amid rebel and tribal fighting in the African nation, the Jakarta Post quoting officer reported here on Friday, June 8, 2012.
     
The Indonesian Armed Force (TNI) will send one battalion of peacekeepers to Darfur, Sudan, to join the United Nations peace mission amid rebel and tribal fighting in the African nation, the Jakarta Post quoting officer reported here on Friday, June 8, 2012.
An Indonesian Army infantryman participating in the U.N..'s Global Peacekeeping Operation Initiative (GPOI), provides security for a World Food Agency truck. Part of Cobra Gold 09, the GPOI allows Soldiers from Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and the U.S. to develop and execute scenarios based on actual peacekeeping experiences.
     

"The UN has asked for one battalion of our peacekeeping troops for Darfur, and of course we are ready for the request," Indonesian Peacekeeping Center chief Brigadier Gen. Imam Edy Mulyono said on Thursday.

"For the first time, Indonesia will send one battalion of our peacekeepers to this country," Imam said.

According to him, the TNI currently has five observers and a staff officer in Darfur and three observers in South Sudan.

The UN has previously said that 2.7 million people were driven from their homes in Darfur after years of fighting between ethnic African rebels, government forces and Arab militias.

The conflict broke out in 2003, when two rival groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) groups in Darfur, took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in favor of Sudanese Arabs.

The ensuing conflict has been allegedly called the Darfur Genocide.

To fulfill the request, the TNI would deploy its stand-by peacekeeping force, which will undergo training starting on June 12 at the Indonesian Peace and Security Center (IPSC) in Sentul, West Java.