Indonesia asks U.N. to help end violence in Libya, prevent oil prices hike

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday called for the United Nations Security Council and the global community to take real steps to terminate political unrest in Libya that has left over 300 casualties, and to prevent oil prices from rising, local media reported.

President Yudhoyono warned that the crisis may hamper the global economic recovery which has already been hit by oil soaring volatile foods and oil prices.

"Therefore, Indonesia calls the United Nation Security Council in particular and the United Nations in general, and the global community, to not only pay attention to the crisis in Libya but also to take real actions to help Libyans," he was quoted by presidensby.info online as saying.

To achieve his goal, President Yudhoyono said he had sent a letter to U.N. Secretary General Bang Ki-Moon.

Indonesian government has been concerned over the difficulty to evacuate 870 Indonesian citizens in Libya due to the ignorance of the Libyan government to cooperate, while the government may delay its limited oil subsidies program for rich people from the initial plan in March due to soaring global oil prices, which reached to over 96 U.S. dollars a barrel, partly triggered by the unrest in Libya. "(The situation in Libya) is more complicated and not easy (to conduct evacuation) compared to that of Egypt recently, the violence (in Libya) is more intense than in Egypt," said Yudhoyono.

Source: Xinhua