Indonesia unwilling to disarm Hizbollah: Antara
Jakarta, Aug 19: Indonesia would object to a UN mandate ordering its forces to disarm Hizbollah if it were to take part in a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, the official Antara news agency quoted the defence minister as saying.
''It is sensitive to disarm Hizbollah troops,'' Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono was quoted as saying yesterday.
''We want Lebanon to make Hizbollah part of the Lebanese troops so that they can carry out their task as Hizbollah is part of a party in Lebanon,'' the minister added.
An aide to Indonesia's defence minister declined immediate comment on the report, while a foreign ministry spokesman said the rules of engagement for the peacekeeping force were still being discussed.
''I will not answer the question because the mandate (of the peacekeeping mission) is being discussed by the Security Council now,'' foreign ministry spokesman Desra Percaya told Reuters.
But he rejected a comment by Israel's ambassador to the United Nations that countries with no diplomatic relations with the Jewish state would not be welcome acceptable by Jerusalem to take part in the UN force.
Indonesia and Malaysia have each offered to send 1,000 troops to Lebanon. Both countries, with Muslim majority populations, have no diplomatic ties with Israel and strongly support the Palestinian cause.
''The resolution of the UN Security Council is binding to all member countries and no country has right of veto of implementing (the resolution)'', Percaya said.
He added that the UN peacekeeping force would be operating on Lebanese territory not in Israel.
''Don't forget that the UN mission is a corrective effort toward Israel's aggression and Israel's veto cannot be imagined.''
REUTERS
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