Indonesian Military Sends Evacuation Team To Yemen
Jumat, 3 April 2015 14:59 WIB
Jakarta (Antara News) - Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Agus Supriatna and Deputy Foreign Minister A.M. Fachir, on Thursday night, bid farewell to a team of personnel who will evacuate Indonesian citizens from war-torn Yemen.
"This night, we saw off a rescue task force team to evacuate Indonesian citizens in Yemen," Supriatna stated at the Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base in East Jakarta.
The team comprises 16 personnel of the National Defense Forces (TNI) and six officials of the Foreign Ministry. They left for Yemen on board an Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) Boeing 737-600 aircraft.
The Air Force Chief of Staff remarked that the task force team would evacuate Indonesian citizens to the safe area of Salalah in Oman.
"We will first evacuate them to the safest place (in Yemen) before they are flown to Oman. Soon after they have arrived in Oman, we will evaluate the citizens to the safest among the three locations there," he said.
He noted that the Indonesian task force team would coordinate with their counterparts from other countries to find the safest route to evacuate the Indonesian citizens in Yemen.
Indonesia is intensifying efforts to evacuate its citizens out of Yemen due to the deteriorating situation in the Middle Eastern nation.
TNI Chief General Moeldoko earlier stated that the Boeing 373-600 would evacuate thousands of Indonesians out of Yemen to a temporary command post in Saudi Arabia. After all the Indonesians are gathered, they would be repatriated to Indonesia by commercial flights.
Moeldoko said the TNI team would also evacuate Indonesian citizens in Yemen by sea.
"Some of them are staying around Aden Bay. They must be evacuated by ship to Djibouti from where they will be repatriated by plane. We have coordinated with the Indian government and related parties," he revealed.
Foreign Minister Retno L.P. Marsudi earlier stated that there were some 4,159 citizens in Yemen, including 2,626 students, 1,488 professional workers in oil and gas companies, and 45 embassy staff and their families in Sanaa.
"Most of them live in the eastern regions of Yemen," she pointed out.
According to the minister, the Indonesian government, through the evacuation task force set up by her office, had informed and approached citizens in Yemen to register themselves for evacuation since February.
A total of 148 citizens had been evacuated and brought back to Indonesia in March, she affirmed.
On Wednesday, the National Police also dispatched an evacuation task force to Yemen to assist in the evacuation of Indonesians out of the country.
The evacuation task force, which comprises five policemen and two policewomen, is a combination of personnel from several units of the Police Headquarters, such as the International Relations Division (Divhubinter), the Security Maintenance Agency (Baharkam), the Intelligence and Security Agency, the Police Education Institute (Lemdikpol), and the Police Medical Team.
"They will be deployed for at least 14 days, and their service period will be adjusted in accordance with the developing situation in Yemen," Chief of the Public Information Bureau (Karopenmas) Brigadier General Agus Rianto stated here on Tuesday. (*)
(S012/INE)
Reported by Syaiful Hakim
Indonesian Military Sends Evacuation Team To Yemen - ANTARA News
Poso Transformed Into "Battlefield" Against Terrorists
Jumat, 3 April 2015 15:08 WIB
Jakarta (Antara News) - Parts of Poso are being transformed into a battlefield as some 3.2 thousand Indonesian military officers of the Swift Reaction Strike Unit (PPRC) are participating in a massive military exercise against terrorists, being held for two weeks, since March 31, 2015.
TNI Commander General Moeldoko has said that the large-scale exercise is being held as a precaution in case of the emergence of radical groups in Indonesia.
"I suspect that the members of radical groups feel at ease in Poso. I am worried that those going to Iraq and Syria, following their return to Indonesia, will make Poso as their base," the general stated when officially launched the military drill in Poso, South Sulawesi, on March 31, 2015.
The exercise is deliberately organized as part of precautionary measures being taken by the government against terrorism, following recent reports of a number of citizens joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
General Moeldoko told newsmen that joint TNI forces would only conduct combat training in the forest and sea territories of Poso.
Moeldoko noted that it was not aimed at catching terrorist suspects, but added, "If we find Santoso and his men, we will ask them to surrender and shoot them if they dont."
The location was chosen because of the potential of security threats in the region, he explained, adding that later, when the TNI conducts operations there, it would know the location better.
"If operations are to be carried out later, personnel will already have knowledge of the front, the enemies and the weather," he affirmed.
Besides being a preventative step against the ISIS development, the military exercise in Poso is also aimed at capturing the terror group led by Santoso.
As many as 20 wanted terrorists are believed to be hiding in the forests of Poso. They keep moving from one forest hill to another, covering an area of around 40 square kilometers.
The military officers surrounded and attacked the terrorists bases in a mountainous and coastal area.
The TNI deploys warships and jet fighters such as F16s to attack the terrorists. In reality, a mountain named Mount Biru is a hideout for the Santoso- and Daeng Koro-led armed groups.
M grade rockets were fired at Mount Biru from land, sea and air by the PPRC during the drill.
After spraying rockets at Mt. Biru, two warships and four fighters with heavy artillery in turn fired at the mountain from a certain height, followed by a deployment of parachutists from 10 Hercules planes and a helicopter.
According to TNI Commander General Moeldoko, the exercise conveyed a "Show of Force" message that ISIS has no place in the country; and it is expected to have a considerable impact regionally as well as internationally.
Earlier, the commander of the 132/Tadulako military region, Colonel Inf. Ilyas Harahap, said during the battle drill, local villagers were evacuated to ensure their safety because the military personnel use live ammunition.
He, however, said "the battle exercise is not being carried out to look for terrorists," the colonel affirmed.
In the meantime, Indonesias human rights NGO Kontras hopes that the ongoing military exercise in Poso does not disturb the local community.
The NGO was worried about the presence of a large number of military personnel in Poso because it could alarm the local community.
"Once again, we would like to remind the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) that it still has responsibilities towards human rights settlements related to the conflicts in Poso in 2001," a spokesman for the Sulawesi chapter of Kontras, Nasrum, said in a statement in Poso on March 31, 2015.
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Poso Transformed Into "Battlefield" Against Terrorists - ANTARA News