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Indonesia to expand number of peacekeeping troops serving in UN missions

Xinhua, October 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

Indonesia has planned to expand the number of its troops serving in the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions to 4,000 by 2019 from 2,867 in 2014, an Indonesian minister said.

Expansion of the peacekeeping troops was aimed at upgrading Indonesia's rank into top 10 nations to send the largest peacekeeping troops.

"Indonesia is now ranked 11th among 123 countries sending peacekeeping troops. We aim to ascend into rank of 10th," Indonesia's Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said during her visit to Indonesia's peacekeeping troops training center in Sentul, West Java on Monday.

The only way to meet the goal was to increase the number of Indonesian troops serving in UN peacekeeping missions, the minister said.

Since its initial peacekeeping service with the UN in 1957, Indonesia has sent a total of 35,000 troops serving in various UN missions across the world.

Indonesia now apparently is the country that sends the largest number of troops serving in UN's ongoing mission of UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), according to the minister.

Of 10,490 international troops from 40 countries serving in UNIFIL, Indonesia contributes 1,296, she was quoted by local media as saying.

During her visit to the facility, the minister inspected the training of Indonesian troops assigned to join UNIFIL in Dec.. Indonesia would send 850 troops to the UN mission in Lebanon. Endit