By Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA, March 4 (Reuters) – Indonesia’s foreign minister said talks on U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza “Board of Peace,” of which the Southeast Asian nation is a key troop-contributing member, were on hold due to the Middle East war.
The U.S. and Israeli air war against Iran has killed scores of civilians, thrown global air transport into chaos and sent oil prices surging after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“All BoP discussions are on hold as all attention has shifted to the situation in Iran,” Minister Sugiono, who goes by one name, said late on Tuesday in response to a question on calls for Indonesia to exit the peace board in the aftermath of the fresh conflict in the Middle East.
“We will also consult with our friends and colleagues in the Gulf because they are also under attack,” Sugiono told reporters after attending an event alongside President Prabowo Subianto.
Indonesia’s participation on the board has drawn criticism from experts and Muslim groups at home, who say it compromises the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation’s longstanding support for the Palestinian cause.
Indonesia backs a two-state solution.
The Indonesian Ulema Council, a leading clerical body, said on March 1 that Indonesia should leave the board, citing Trump’s attack on Iran as rendering the initiative ineffective.
Meanwhile, Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation, said Jakarta should use its position to press Israel and the United States to halt the violence.
Trump first proposed the board in September when he unveiled a plan to end Israel’s war in Gaza, later expanding its remit to address other global conflicts typically handled by the United Nations.
Sugiono also said Prabowo is willing to be a mediator in the Iran war in a bid “to cool down and de-escalate the situation in the region.”
Indonesia is readying 1,000 troops for potential deployment in Gaza by early April as part of a proposed multinational peacekeeping force, its army said, as part of the UN-mandated International Stabilization Force. It has also been given the deputy commander role of the force.
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Gibran Peshimam and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
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