Indonesia prepared to send troops to Lebanon

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Indonesia is prepared to send 1,000 troops as part of a UN force in Lebanon, including 150 engineers to help rebuild shattered infrastructure, officials said on Wednesday, reports Reuters.

The 15 nation UN Security Council last Friday unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a truce in the one-month war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas. It authorised up to13,000 well-armed troops to augment the 2,000 strong UN force now in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, for a total of 15,000.

"The government will send 1,000 personnel of the TNI (Indonesian military) for a peacekeeping operation in Lebanon,"Theo Sambuaga, Chairman of a commission monitoring security and international affairs, told a news conference.Widodo Adi Sutjipto, Chief Co-ordinating Minister for political and security affairs, said Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had spoken by phone to French President Jacques Chirac and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on the issue.

France is expected to lead a UN force, although it has not agreed to do so yet.The government of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has come under pressure at home to join a peace keeping mission after outcries and protests over the violence in the Middle East.

The country has been training a special battalion to serve in Lebanon, but military chief Air Marshal Djoko Suyanto said this would be backed up with 150 engineers and heavy equipment.Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Indonesia had been invited to attend a UNIFIL meeting on the peace keeping force in New York on Thursday.