U.S. Support Helps Indonesian Peacekeepers, November 25, 2006

Press Release:

The U.S. Government has provided transportation for some 850 Indonesian peacekeeping troops and equipment to Lebanon in support of the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The main body of 719 Indonesian peacekeepers departed Jakarta early this afternoon on board American Trans Airways chartered flights with final arrival into Beirut on November 26.

A 129-person advance party departed Indonesia on board a chartered North American Airlines flight arriving in Beirut on November 10. About 200 pieces of TNI equipment arrived in Lebanon on November 18 on board the USS Wilson, a U.S.- flagged contract ship.

U.S. Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe said: “The deployment of the Indonesian peacekeepers to Lebanon supported by the U.S. Government shows our two countries working together to help bring peace to that region.”

Accepting a request from the UN to provide logistical support for UNIFIL , U.S. President George Bush had earmarked US$4.9 million in September of this year to provide transportation for Indonesian peacekeeping troops deploying to Lebanon in support of that mission.