RI Against Military Option in Syrian Issue

Saint Petersburg (Antara Bali) - Indonesia hopes military option would not be taken without a UN mandate and has called for prioritizing efforts to create a cease-fire to solve Syrian problems.

"The answer, according to me, is international community is given a mandate by the UN to carry out a number of tasks that contain three aspects. Certainly not all of them will be carried out by the international community but some of them are done by the Syrian government, leaders and figures," he said at a press conference here on Friday.

President Yudhoyono said there were three things that could be done to help solve the Syrian problem. "The first is that bloodshed must be stopped. The sooner it is stopped the better it will be," he said.

Secondly, following the end of bloodshed humanitarian aid could then be distributed, he said. Thirdly, he said, the Syrian problem must not be solved militarily but politically.

He said what must be done was stopping the firefight and then a number of measures are taken to assure process of settlement  without military forces.

"Along with it the UN could sponsor a summit to formulate framework for the settlement," he said.

If a cease-fire could be done and agreement could be achieved at the UN level it is not impossible for an opportunity to be opened for a political solution of the problem, he said.

On the sidelines of G20 Summit activities President Yudhoyono met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon  to convey his view about Syria and also discuss a number of other issues. (*/DWA)