ASEAN countries to cooperate in Citizens` protection in Egypt

Antara News, Thu, February 03 2011

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Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Members of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) agree to cooperate in an effort to protect its citizen in Egypt, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said.

"During the past two days, I have communicated with my counterparts from Thailand and Malaysia regarding our effort to protect own citizens in Egypt. Based on joint agreement in 2006, members of ASEAN countries through their embassies in Cairo will help each other in relation to evacuation and protection of ASEAN citizen there," the minister said here on Thursday at a press conference.

Asked about the form of cooperation, Marty said he could not yet give the details. Marty also said ASEAN countries would soon stated their response over political crisis in Egypt recently which had killed more than 100 people.

The minister expressed hope that conflict in Egypt would be solved peacefully with regard to people`s interests.

Meanwhile, former Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirajuda stated the counter-demonstrations by Hosni Mubarak supporters in Egypt recently had turned the political standoff there into a horizontal conflict that is destroying its people`s sense of security.

Hasan Wirayudha in his capacity as head of the government`s team for the evacuation of Indonesians from Egypt said on Thursday that at first the conflict in Egypt was between the government and the people but now it had become a horizontal one.

If the horizontal confrontation continued, the Egyptian people would no longer be able to live in a situation of public order and security, Hasan said.

If the turmoil dragged on, the Egyptian economy would eventually stagnate, and therefore, Indonesian citizens living there, including students, needed to be evacuated and repatriated as soon as possible, Hasan said.

The government would be in charge of the evacuation and repatriation process until they were home safely, he said.

Editor: Ruslan