JAKARTA - Indonesia on Thursday, April 9, co-led a joint statement at the United Nations condemning attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, drawing support from 64 countries and the European Union as signatories, with Indonesia's Foreign Ministry counting 73 when including UN observers.

Indonesia's Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Umar Hadi, read the statement during a media stakeout co-hosted with France at UN Headquarters. Signatories included UNIFIL troop-contributing countries and several other member states, among them the United Kingdom, Russia, China, Pakistan, Bahrain, Spain, and Malaysia.

Speaking on behalf of all signatories, Hadi said, “We condemn in the strongest terms the persistent attacks against UNIFIL, including the latest grave attacks which cost the lives of three Indonesian peacekeepers and injured several other peacekeepers from France, Ghana, Indonesia, Nepal and Poland.”

“We also firmly condemn the unacceptable aggressive behaviour towards UNIFIL personnel and leadership recently observed,” Hadi said further. 

The joint statement declared further, “The safety and security of UN peacekeepers is non-negotiable, and we urge the UN and the Security Council to exert all tools available at its disposal to strengthen the protection of UN peacekeepers in an increasingly dangerous environment.”

The three Indonesians killed were Farizal Rhomadhon on March 29 and Zulmi Aditya Iskandar and Muhammad Nur Ichwan on March 30, all in southern Lebanon. On Tuesday, April 7, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced preliminary findings attributing Rhomadhon’s death to an Israeli tank projectile and the other two to an IED most likely placed by Hezbollah.

The initiative followed Foreign Minister Sugiono’s commitment on April 4, when the soldiers’ bodies arrived in Jakarta, to take firm action. 

Indonesia has contributed troops to UNIFIL since 2006, when the UN Security Council expanded the mission's mandate following the Second Lebanon War to help the Lebanese Army maintain control over southern Lebanon. 

Now in its 19th rotation, Indonesia deployed 1,090 personnel on April 9 last year with 755 still serving in southern Lebanon as of March 30. It is currently the largest troop contributor to UNIFIL, just ahead of Italy’s 754 troops out of a total 7,505 peacekeepers from 47 countries. The mission is mandated through December 31, 2026 under UN Security Council Resolution 2790.