RI plans to evacuate 30,000 from Gulf

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is preparing to evacuate about 30,000 Indonesians from Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries ahead of a possible U.S.-led strike against Baghdad.

Most of the 30,000 Indonesians are migrant workers employed in Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. There are 78 Indonesians living in Iraq.

"We do hope that the war will not happen," State Minister for Communications and Information Syamsul Mu'arif said after a limited Cabinet meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue.

"But if war does break out, we have to evacuate around 30,000 Indonesians living in those countries," Syamsul said.

The government's evacuation team will be under the supervision of the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for Security and Political Affairs.

"We are preparing for the worst, and we will be ready to secure our citizens if war breaks out in Iraq," Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Jusuf Kalla said.

The United Nations' arms inspection team is scheduled to deliver its report to the UN Security Council regarding the possible existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq on Jan. 27.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and Britain continue to threaten strikes on Iraq if it refuses to destroy its weapons of mass destruction. The two countries have deployed tens of thousands of troops in the past month to the border of Iraq.

Kalla said the Indonesian government also was calculating the possible political and security impacts at home if the U.S. and Britain attack Iraq.

"We have to send a clear messages to the public that the Indonesian government is against unilateral attacks against Iraq; the public should know that," he said.

Indonesia was rocked by waves of anti-Western protests when a U.S.-led coalition attacked Afghanistan in November 2001.

Similar reactions are expected should Washington decide to strike Baghdad.

Kalla said the government had yet to decide whether to augment its security forces in the western regions of the country.

"We will hold further discussions on Jan. 27 on our detailed preparations in anticipation of war; not just security issues but also the economic side," the minister said.