F

oreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi is making a quick visit to Lebanon and Afghanistan late this week to demonstrate Indonesia’s commitment to maintaining world peace.

Retno is scheduled to land in Lebanon on Saturday and then continue on to Afghanistan on Tuesday.

“The Lebanon visit will be focused on two areas: Beirut Port and Adchit-al Qusayr,” the Foreign Ministry’s director of international security and disarmament, Grata Endah Werdaningtyas, said at a press briefing on Thursday.

The two areas, she said, host concentrations of Indonesian peacekeepers deployed under the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Retno, she said, has been planning the Lebanon visit since last year, but she could only make the trip this year after securing clearance from the UN.

In the Beirut Port, Grata said, Retno is to meet 110 peacekeepers for a dialog on various issues, like their administrative, technical and personal challenges. She added that Retno would also inspect the Indonesian warship KRI Usman Harun.

After Beirut, Retno heads to Adchit-al Qusayr to meet 850 soldiers of the Garuda Contingent XXIII-L, also known as the Indonesian Battalion (Indobatt), after meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil.

There, Retno plans not only to meet soldiers from the mechanized infantry battalion but also those in medical and civil military cooperation (CIMIC) units.

“Medical and CIMIC battalions have additional value because we [through the units] also do social engagement activities with local people,” said Grata, adding that the soldiers worked also in health, education, culture and social exchange.

“For a note, we are one of the countries with the most female soldiers. Of the 1,900 Indonesian personnel in UNIFIL, 84 are females,” said Grata.

On Tuesday, Retno is to proceed to Afghanistan until March 1 to assist Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who was invited to attend the Kabul Peace Process Conference by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Among other things, Kalla and Retno are to express Indonesia’s commitment to continue building peace in Afghanistan using soft power, ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said in the briefing.

“The Vice President’s visit is a statement of Indonesia’s support for Afghanistan’s attempt to build peace,” he said.

“We will continue pushing inclusiveness and non-violence in peace building in Afghanistan.”

In addition to Ghani, Arrmanatha added, Kalla is scheduled to meet Afghanistan’s High Peace Council chairman Mohammad Karim Khalili and chief executive Abdullah Abdullah.

Arrmanatha said both visits, particularly to Lebanon, displayed Indonesia’s commitment to world peace.

Indonesia, which with 2,700 personnel is among the 10 countries with the largest number of peacekeepers, intends to send a total of 4,000 soldiers.

The spokesman said the visits were also part of Indonesia’s attempt to learn about peacekeeping in the field prior to a vote in June that may give the country a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Grata said that Indonesia had collected support from more than two-thirds of UN member states.

Grata added that if Indonesia was reelected to represent the Asia-Pacific region, it pledged to not only enhance its contribution to peacekeeping operations, but also to attempt conflict prevention.

“Honestly, we have a lot of experience in mediation, negotiation and conflict settlement in our region,” Grata said, giving as an example the resolution of a rebel uprising in Aceh.