The United States and Indonesia share a strong commitment to peacekeeping and post-conflict stabilization operations, and the United States is providing support to help Indonesia meet its ambitious goals for increasing its peacekeeping contributions around the world.
Since 1957, Indonesia has supplied over 24,000 peacekeepers to United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. Currently Indonesia has approximately 1,700 peacekeepers deployed in countries across the globe, including Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Haiti. Indonesia is currently among the top 20 peacekeeper contributing countries in the world. Foreign Minister Natalegawa has announced Indonesia’s intention to join the ranks of the top ten in the near future. The Indonesian Armed Forces accordingly have plans to rapidly increase the number of Indonesian peacekeepers deployed abroad to over 4,300.
A key part of Indonesia’s strategy to enhance the number and capabilities of its peacekeepers is the creation of a large-scale peacekeeping training center in Sentul, south of Jakarta. The training center, which is currently under construction on 159 hectares of land, is scheduled for completion in 2013, and will ultimately have the capacity to house and train 1,500 soldiers at once.
The United States is contributing significant resources to support this undertaking. Since 2006 the United States has obligated $14.8 million to boost Indonesian peacekeeping capacity, including approximately $8 million in Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) funds to support the construction of barracks facilities and other operational equipment at the Indonesian Peace and Security Center. GPOI also partnered with Indonesia to host two major multinational peacekeeping training exercises (Garuda Shield 2008 and 2009).
When complete, the training center will provide comprehensive training for Indonesian peacekeepers prior to deployment and will also serve as a regional hub for similar training centers throughout Southeast Asia.
Cooperation on peacekeeping is just one example of the way in which the U.S.-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership allows our two nations to work together on shared global priorities.
