Foreign troops could leave tsunami zone in a month: UN<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Bangkok<\/p>\n
Most foreign troops operating in tsunami-devastated areas, such
\nas Indonesia's Aceh province, could be home in a month, the UN
\nhead of tsunami coordination efforts Margareta Wahlstrom said on
\nFriday.<\/p>\n
As relief operations shifted from emergency airlifts to
\nregular land and sea deliveries, the need for foreign troops was
\nrapidly diminishing, Wahlstrom told reporters.<\/p>\n
\"In a number of weeks from now -- it's not firmly set yet but
\npossibly in another month -- the military will be able to phase
\nout,\" Wahlstrom said, while praising the efforts of international
\nforces.<\/p>\n
Wahlstrom did not say whether controversy surrounding foreign
\nsoldiers in Aceh was behind the push to transfer relief
\ndeliveries to civilians.<\/p>\n
Some Indonesian politicians and Islamic hardliners have
\ncriticized the presence of foreign forces in Aceh, where clashes
\nbetween government soldiers and separatists continue.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's army said on Thursday it had killed 120 separatist
\nrebels in the past two weeks in the tsunami-devastated province
\ndespite pledges by both sides to cease fighting to focus on
\nrelief efforts.<\/p>\n
Wahlstrom said the pullout would not affect the security of
\nrelief workers as international forces had only been engaged in
\nhumanitarian operations.<\/p>\n
\"Our situation has not changed in Aceh, and we do not have any
\nsecurity concerns,\" she said, adding the withdrawal was also part
\nof efforts underway to move from emergency aid to long-term
\nreconstruction.<\/p>\n
\"We are now looking at phase two of the operation which has
\nalready started now and this is a stabilization period to assist
\npeople to settle down a bit and try to contribute to job
\ngeneration,\" she said.<\/p>\n
She also warned that the death toll -- currently close to
\n222,000 people across the Indian Ocean -- would continue to climb
\nbecause in many cases whole families of 50 to 100 people had been
\nwiped out, leaving no survivor to report the missing or the dead.<\/p>\n
\"If there is no one left to say I have lost half my family, it
\nwill take a long time before the communities get together again
\nand really identify where all their relatives are,\" said
\nWahlstrom.<\/p>\n
\"This will be a process that will go on for some time before
\nwe reach a reasonable number that we can accept,\" she said.<\/p>",
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