ABRI sends officers for overseas duty

JAKARTA (JP): Fifteen officers of the Armed Forces' Garuda XVI contingent reported to ABRI headquarters prior to leaving for their assignments in war-torn Mozambique. Two reported for duty in Somalia and another was headed for Kuwait, all working under the United Nations banners.

The officers were received by Lt. Gen. H.B.L. Mantiri, ABRI's Chief of General Affairs, the Armed Forces' Headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, announced..

The 15 Mozambique-bound are led by Maj. Kuswandi. They will be working there as observers.

The two leaving for Somalia will join the UN peacekeeping mission known as UNOSOM, and the one to Kuwait will assume a post at the UN's Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM).

Mantiri in his brief speech said the overseas tasks were logical outgrowths of Indonesia's membership in the UN and were also in line with the country's ideology and constitution which highly values international peace.

Indonesia has had a long experience with past UN missions, either as peacekeepers or as military observers, all named the Garuda contingent, in Kuwait, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Cambodia.

A press report from Yemen suggested that Indonesia has also been asked to take part in a UN peacekeeping mission there, however officials in Jakarta were not available for comment.

Indonesia will soon send a Garuda XV contingent to Angola, as well as an additional 10 people to Bosnia as military observers.

Mantiri expressed his hope that the soldiers would profit from their experiences, both for each individual and for the Armed Forces. (pwn)