1. Wolf: (2 x 14)
1. Wolf: (2 x 14) Wolfowitz has high hopes for Aceh JP/1/PAUL
Wolfowitz hopes Aceh now feel good to be part of Indonesia
Riyadi Suparno The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh
Visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz is still very much linked to Indonesia, as made evident at a press conference here on Saturday when he expressed hope that the tsunami catastrophe would unite the country, and spoke a few sentences in Bahasa Indonesia.
Speaking at the Indonesian Air Force base here, Wolfowitz said the government's quick and massive response to the disaster, particularly in the relief operation, should open an opportunity for the Acehnese "to find that their government, the Indonesian government, is concerned about their welfare."
Nevertheless, it would all depend on whether the government succeeds in its relief operation to cater for the emergency needs of the people, as well as in the future reconstruction of the province.
In addition, Wolfowitz said, the outpouring of help from people from other parts of Indonesia should help the Acehnese to eventually feel more comfortable to be part of Indonesia.
"I am struck by (the words of) several Indonesian friends I talked to on the phone over the last week, saying that the outpouring of sympathy from Jakarta and the rest of Indonesia is unprecedented, and I hope that with the success of this relief and reconstruction, there can be a similar feeling from the Acehnese people that it's good to be part of Indonesia," Wolfowitz told foreign and local journalists.
Accompanied by Indonesian Military Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, Wolfowitz appeared relaxed during the press conference. When a local journalist asked his permission to raise a question in Bahasa Indonesia, the deputy secretary responded in Bahasa Indonesia: "Saya sudah banyak lupa" (I have forgotten it a lot) and asked the journalist to speak pelan-pelan (slowly).
The journalist asked if the U.S. government was prepared to give debt relief to the Indonesian government for humanitarian reasons following the disaster. Responding to the question, Wolfowitz said: "Life isn't that simple unfortunately."
He noted that the U.S. government had spent quite a lot of money to help the relief operation and had committed a large amount of money totaling more than US$350 million for the whole emergency operation in the region, the bulk of which would go to Indonesia.
"Frankly speaking, we have been doing a lot and are certainly looking to do more," he said.
Nevertheless, he warned that the U.S. presence, including its military forces, in Aceh would not be there for long.
2. Abbas (2 x 25)
Palestinian president sworn in, peace call clouded JP/1/Abbas
Palestinian president sworn in, peace call clouded
Wafa Amr Reuters/Ramallah, West Bank
Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in as Palestinian president on Saturday, but his call for a ceasefire was overshadowed by fresh violence in Gaza and Israel's decision to cut ties over a deadly militant attack.
"Our hand is extended towards an Israeli partner for making peace," said Abbas at the ceremony in the battered West Bank compound where his predecessor Yasser Arafat is buried. "We are seeking a mutual ceasefire to end this vicious circle."
"Peace can only be achieved by working together to reach a permanent status solution," he said, restating his support for a U.S.-backed peace "road map" that calls initially for militants to be reined in while Israel eases its occupation.
In the latest bloodshed, Israeli troops killed six Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including some gunmen.
Abbas wants an end to more than four years of Palestinian armed struggle so talks with the Jewish state can resume. His election last Sunday has kindled new hopes for Middle East peace in the era after Arafat's death on Nov 11.
But Israel, wary of Abbas's aim of co-opting gunmen rather than cracking down on them, cut off ties after militants killed six Israelis in an attack on the Karni cargo terminal between Israel and Gaza on Thursday.
Abbas did not say in his speech how he planned to deal with the militants. Nor did he refer to Israel cutting contacts.
"This is a wrong decision and shows that Israel is trying to find any excuse to disrupt any serious effort that leads to reviving the peace process and to achieving calm," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie told Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Abbas had been widely expected to meet soon to discuss security coordination in the run-up to Israel's planned pullout from Gaza this year and the possibility of resuming talks on Palestinian statehood.
Prospects for an end to bloodshed appeared to brighten when Sharon called Abbas this week. Israel had shunned Arafat, accusing him of fomenting violence, though he always denied it.
Abbas, whose grey suits and neat moustache contrast with Arafat's army uniforms and stubbly chin, has called for calm.
But Abbas has been defied by militants, including some from his Fatah faction and Islamists bent on destroying Israel. They launched repeated rocket and mortar attacks as well as the assault on the Karni border crossing on Thursday.
On Saturday, Israeli troops killed six Palestinians, including some militants and two armed police, in the Gaza Strip. The army said some were trying to attack an Israeli force and the others were in a forbidden zone.
Israel shut all Gaza border crossings after the Karni attack, suspending movement of Palestinians and goods in and out of the occupied territory.
"We lose lives and this is a terrible thing, but the Palestinians are the ones who time and again lose the political and historic opportunity," said Israeli Vice-Premier Shimon Peres, a veteran peacemaker.
Palestinian officials said Abbas was expected to go to Gaza this week and meet militant groups.
Egyptian presidential spokesman Soleiman Awad said the world must realize that Abbas "does not possess a magic wand with which he can stop the violence overnight".
Abbas said there would soon be talks on reshuffling the government that he inherited from Arafat, though he is keeping Qurie as prime minister.
While halting violence is one challenge for Abbas, Palestinians and Western countries also demand internal reforms to sweep away corruption and mismanagement that paralyzed the Palestinian Authority in Arafat's last years.
Although international monitors pronounced last Sunday's elections fair, five senior officials resigned from the Palestinian election commission on Saturday, saying they were coerced into extending voting by Abbas's supporters.
The resignations could dent Abbas's claim to a popular mandate for peacemaking.
3. Aceh (2 x 14) Aid group warns of tetanus scare JP/1/Aceh
Medical aid group warns of tetanus scare in tsunami-hit Indonesia
Dozens of survivors scavenging through debris in Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh have contracted tetanus, and the confirmed number of infections is set to spike in coming weeks, a medical aid group has warned in Banda Ace..
Tetanus has been detected in 67 people and because the sometimes deadly disease has an incubation period of up to 60 days, that number is expected to jump in the near future, Medecins Sans Frontiers said in a statement Friday.
Up to a quarter of the people who contract Tetanus die from the disease, the group said.
"Most cases are only starting to show up now," Loris De Filippi, the group's coordinator in Aceh, said in the statement. "The fear is that many more people will develop the disease in days and weeks to come."
Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial disease that affects the nervous system. When tetanus spores, which live in soil and dust, get into the human body via wounds, they release toxins that cause spasms and stiffness. A scratch is enough, but a deep cut or wound will make the sufferer particularly susceptible to infection.
Towns and villages across hard-hit Aceh province have been replaced by mountains of rubble filled with nail-studded timber, broken glass and other sharp-edged debris.
"People are becoming infected when they search for corpses or useful objects in the rubble left by the tsunami," the group said.
Medecins Sans Frontiers is distributing boots and gloves and dispatching vehicles with loudspeakers as part of a campaign to prevent people from contracting tetanus, the statement said. -- AP