The personnel consisting of construction and medical units whose main duties will be connected to the post-disaster recovery mission for Haiti, and not necessarily related to the impacts of the conflicts in the country.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government is sending military personnel for humanitarian assistance under the United Nations mission to Haiti to assist in the country efforts to recover from the impacts of the earthquake last year.
"(The dispatch) is shortly and the departure may be just within days," Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told newsmen in the Presidential Palace, here, on Tuesday.
Yusgiantoro added that a representative of the United Nations has come to Indonesia and ensured the participation of Indonesia in the recovery operation in Haiti and the personnel is already prepared and is waiting for the order to depart.
He said that the personnel consisting of construction and medical units whose main duties will be connected to the post-disaster recovery mission for Haiti, and not necessarily related to the impacts of the conflicts in the country.
Backing up the statement of the Defense Minister, the commander of the Indonesian Defense Force (TNI) Admiral Agus Suhartono said that he was waiting for the confirmation on the needs for the mission before giving order for the personnel to leave for Haiti.
Speaking to journalists after an international defense dialogue event held recently in Jakarta, Admiral Suhartono said that the preparation for the sending of the TNI construction and medical units to Haiti had been done since last January.
An earthquake of 7-magnitude hit Haiti on January 12, 2010 and left 316,000 people killed in the disaster, 300,000 others sustained injuries and made more than a million people homeless.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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