"Our representatives in the United Nations headquarters in New York have discussed with the Non-Aligned Movement member countries in the UNSC, as well as the Islamic Conference Organization (ICO) member countries," the spokesman of the Indonesian Foreign Affair Ministry Marty Natalegawa told a press briefing.

Apart from that, Natalegawa disclosed that Indonesia has talked with Malaysia, the chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, asking Malaysia to jointly explore the possibility of holding an emergency meeting of the UNSC to avert war in Iraq.

Bilaterally, Indonesia would request the UNSC member countries’ support for the emergency session to stop the war in Iraq, said Natalegawa.

The spokesman noted that each of the UN member countries had rights to propose a meeting of the UNSC, but the final decision would be decided by all members of the council.

"Hopefully the idea will be supported by the UNSC," he said.

He said that the most important thing now was that the US aggression in Iraq must be stopped, because of violation of the international law.

He added that the UNSC should take an action and respond over the crisis in Iraq.

"It is funny if the UN focuses on many problems, except the Iraq crisis," he said.

Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Thursday stated that the Indonesian government would continue diplomatic efforts to stop the US invasion in Iraq.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2003)