Jakarta, Mar 17: Indonesia today withdrew all its remaining Embassy staff from Iraq because of the threat of war in the country, a foreign ministry spokesman said. The Indonesian ambassador in Baghdad and three diplomatic staff were expected to arrive in Syria later Monday, said Marty Natelegawa. "Given the events over the past three or four days we have decided to take this action," he said. "The situation is rather uncertain." The mission in Baghdad had been operating on a skeleton staff since last week. Indonesia has drawn up contingency plans to evacuate a estimated 50,000 of its nationals currently working elsewhere in the middle east in the event of war.
Bureau Report