Indonesian warship departs for Lebanon

The Jakarta Post | Fri, 03/20/2009 6:14 PM

Indonesian warship KRI Diponegoro-365 departed from Jakarta on Friday for Lebanon as a maritime task force to join the Marine Task Force of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (MTF-UNIFIL), Antara state news agency reported.

KRI Dipononegoro-365 will make stopovers at several seaports such as Cochin in India, Salalah in Oman, Port Said in Egypt, and Beirut in Lebanon, with a total distance of 6,555 miles.

In Lebanon, KRI Diponegoro will join the the MTF UNIFIL's Commander Task Force (CTF)-448, which has already had warships from France, Turkey, Greek, Italy, Belgium, Spain and Germany.

The Indonesian warship is among other things equipped with BO-105 NV-414 helicopter.

The commander of Konga XXVIII's Maritime Task Force is Colonel Aan Kurnia, while the commander of KRI Diponegoro-365 is Lieut. Col. Arsyad Abdullah.

General Djoko Santoso said it was for the first time that TNI, especially the Navy, sent its maritime task force to join the UN peace keeping force.

KRI Diponegoro will join the MTF UNIFIL for six months until October 2009, and if the mission is successful, TNI will send its second warship.

UNIFIL was created by the UN Security Council in 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the Lebanese Government in restoring its effective authority in the area.