RI officers sent to Angola

RI officers sent to Angola

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has sent a delegation of police officers as observers to a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Angola.

Lt. Gen. Soeyono, the Armed Forces (ABRI) chief of general affairs, said on Friday, while sending off the Indonesian delegation to the UN mission, that the nation had once again been asked by the United Nations to join in a peace endeavor.

The delegation, which left under the banner of the 18th Garuda Contingent, is led by Lt. Col. Harry Sasongko and consists of eight captains and three middle-ranking officers, Antara reported. The delegation will join other police observers in the third United Nations Angola Verification Mission.

This latest mission came in the wake of a visit to Indonesia by UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who used the occasion to appeal to his host to continue to take part in future UN peacekeeping missions.

Indonesia's Garuda Contingent has preciously served in similar missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Somalia, Cambodia and many other world trouble spots during the past 30 years.

This is the first time, however, that Indonesia has sent a delegation to Angola, a former Portuguese colony which has been ravaged by bloody civil wars since Lisbon ceded control of the territory. (emb)