US Ambassador to Indonesia, Joseph Donovan, UK Ambassador to Indonesia, Moazzam Malik and French Ambassador to Indonesia, Jean-Charles Berthonnet met Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi at the Building of Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jakarta more recently (April 19, 2018). The meeting discussed some issues; one of which is related to air raids in Douma, Syria, which is suspected of using chemical weapons. In the meeting, British Ambassador Moazzam Malik said that his side had asked Indonesia to join and follow up the use of chemical weapons allegedly committed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
“So, we welcome the statement by Indonesia and by Ibu Menlu that was released at the weekend setting up their position on this fact and the use of chemical weapons in Syria. But we invited Indonesia and the Indonesian authorities to go further. We would like them to join us in holding the Assad regime accountable for the misuse and the abuse of this convention and the use of the chemical weapons against Syrian Nationals. We would like them to join us and indeed the many people across the world, many countries across the world, in pressing Syria and its allies including Russia, to allow access for OPCW fact finding mission that is seeking access to Duma,” British Ambassador Moazzam Malik said
Ambassador Moazzam further said that Indonesia will soon become an executive member of Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons -OPCW in the near future. Thus, he wants Indonesia to play a major role in solving the chaotic use of chemical weapons in Syria. So far, the fact-finding team of OPCW has not carried out an independent investigation stage because they are banned to enter into Douma. (VOI/Rezha/RHM)