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UN denies pressuring Wahid on Malukus

Source
Sydney Morning Herald - July 25, 2000

Mark Riley, New York – A United Nations Security Council member has rejected claims by the Indonesian President, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, that the council is pressing for a peacekeeping mission to the Maluku islands.

Mr Wahid told a rally in Surabaya at the weekend that he had rebuffed "the strongest pressure yet" for peacekeepers to go to the troubled area. He said he learned of the pressure through a weekend telephone call from the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan.

However, a Security Council member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mr Wahid's version of the telephone call was "an over-interpretation of the facts". The council member said Mr Annan had offered Mr Wahid the assistance of some "low-level UN officers" in devising strategies to end the sectarian violence that has ravaged the area for more than a year.

The issue of peacekeepers had never been raised, either formally or informally, among the 15 members of the Security Council, and there were no plans for it to be added to the council's agenda, the member said.

"The situation in Ambon is not recognised as a matter of international peace and security," the council member said. "The only way the Security Council would most likely consider the issue of peacekeepers would be if Indonesia asked it to do so." Mr Annan also had powers under the UN charter to direct the Security Council to formally consider the issue, but had shown no indication of doing so.

Mr Wahid may have had political reasons for suggesting he was resisting UN pressure to intervene in the Malukus, the council member said. "No leader wants to give the impression that he cannot deal with security issues in his own country – it can be seen as a sign of weakness."

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