KOTA TINGGI: Malaysia will be guided by any decision made by the United Nations (UN) should there be a proposal to deploy the Malaysian Battalion (Malbatt) peacekeeping force to Yemen, says Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
The Defence Minister said Malaysia would not make such a decision unilaterally, stressing that any action must be based on a UN decision.
He said the country should not deploy peacekeeping troops to Yemen while it remained embroiled in an active conflict.
“What is happening now is a conflict, a war. The UN has never sent troops to become involved in a war,” he said at a press conference after attending a Maulidur Rasul celebration here yesterday.
He stressed that Malaysia would abide by the UN’s decision on whether any peacekeeping mission would be suitable.
Mohamed Khaled was responding to a question on whether Malaysia should consider sending personnel to Yemen following the latest escalation in fighting there.
He added that UN peacekeeping forces were generally deployed after parties involved in a conflict agree to a peace arrangement, with peacekeepers tasked with ensuring that the terms of the agreement are respected.
He said the situation in Yemen was different from Malaysia’s peacekeeping role in Lebanon, where troops serve under a peacekeeping mandate.
“In Lebanon, our peacekeepers are there to ensure that the conditions of the peace agreement are complied with,” he added.
Mohamed Khaled said deploying troops in the middle of an ongoing war would expose them to significant risks.
“If you enter in the middle of a war, there will be casualties.
“When the coffins come home, people will certainly be angry,” he said.
The UN has reported intensified fighting along Yemen’s west coast and an increasingly volatile situation around the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The UN special envoy for Yemen has also called on the parties to cease hostilities and return to political negotiations amid the latest escalation.
