Indonesia Proposes Demilitarised Zone: Indonesia’s defence minister proposed a peace plan for the conflict in Ukraine on Saturday, advocating for a demilitarised zone and a United Nations referendum in disputed territory. Prabowo Subianto urged defence and military officials from around the world to congregate in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue to issue a declaration calling for a cessation of hostilities.
Indonesia’s defence minister on Saturday proposed a peace plan for the war in Ukraine, calling for a demilitarised zone and a United Nations referendum in what he called disputed territory.
Prabowo Subianto called on defence and military officials from around the globe gathered at the Shangri-La Dialogue defence meeting in Singapore to issue a declaration calling for a cessation in hostilities. He proposed a multi-point plan including a ceasefire “in place at present positions of both conflicting parties” and establishing a demilitarised zone by withdrawing 15 kilometres (nearly 10 miles) from each party’s forward position.
Indonesia Proposes Demilitarised zone
The demilitarized zone should be observed and monitored by a peacekeeping force deployed by the United Nations, he said, adding that a UN referendum should be held “to ascertain objectively the wishes of the majority of the inhabitants of the various disputed areas”. “I propose that the Shangri-La dialogue find a mode of… voluntary declaration urging both Ukraine and Russia to immediately start negotiations for peace,” Prabowo said.
The Indonesian proposal follows President Joko Widodo’s yearlong visit to Moscow and Kyiv, during which he proposed to serve as a peace broker between their respective leaders and reignite peace talks. At the time, he was also the chairman of the G20 group of key economies. Josep Borrell Fontelles, high representative and vice president of the European Union’s European Commission, stated on the same panel that if Ukraine’s military support ceased, the war would soon end, but the country’s sovereignty would be lost to external aggression.
“We cannot cease militarily supporting Ukraine because we do not want the peace that is… the peace of capitulation. The tranquilly of the stronger,” said Borrell. The ten-point peace plan proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demands that Russia withdraw all of its troops from Ukraine. Ihor Zhovkva, Ukraine’s chief diplomatic adviser, stated that Ukraine had no interest in a ceasefire that would seal in Russian territorial gains.
