Aceh emergency ends, foreign troops leave

Aceh emergency ends, foreign troops leave

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government said on Sunday that the emergency situation in
tsunami-ravaged Aceh is now nearly over, and that foreign troops
should gradually be replaced by civilians.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab said it
was "only logical" for foreign militaries to start withdrawing
their personnel from Aceh.

"The emergency stage is almost behind us, so militaries will
no longer be as effective in contributing. Civilians are needed,"
said Alwi, who is also in charge of overseeing humanitarian
relief work in the region, in Banda Aceh.

"We are opening up isolated areas using land transport, so we
don't need any more helicopters."

The U.S., Australia and Singapore are among a number of
countries that have dispatched troops to Aceh. They are playing
a central role in distributing relief aid by helicopter to
hundreds of thousands of survivors in isolated areas. Land
transportation was made impossible in many areas of Aceh as the
tsunami destroyed many roads and bridges.

But the presence of foreign troops in oil and gas rich-Aceh
has created nervousness, particularly among hardliners in the
Indonesian military (TNI). For the past three years Aceh had
been closed to foreigners, with the TNI launching offensives
against the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) who have been
fighting for an independent state for decades.

The government's attitude has raised eyebrows among U.S.
officials as well as foreign relief groups. It previously said
that it wanted to see foreign troops gone by March 26 as it
wanted to take control of the relief work in Aceh, which bore the
brunt of the tsunami disaster. At least 166,000 people in the
province died and around 600,000 were made homeless as a result
of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Alwi's latest remarks came after Singapore last week withdrew
three Seahawk helicopters from Medan, the capital city of North
Sumatra bordering Aceh.

Singapore, whose military mission in Aceh represented its
largest-ever overseas operation, was the first foreign country to
announce its withdrawal.

Meanwhile, Antara quoted TNI spokesman in Aceh, Col. DJ
Nachrowi, as saying that Singapore had already pulled out most of
its 965 troops from Aceh on Saturday.

"Most of the Singaporean troops who assisted in the relief
effort in Aceh returned home on Saturday," he said, adding that
the troops will be replaced by civilians who will continue the
humanitarian work and help in the rehabilitation process,
particularly in the badly affected town of Meulaboh that had been
the main focus of the Singapore contingent.

He said that the remaining Singaporean military personnel in
Aceh were assigned to guard equipment that had yet to be pulled
out.

Antara also said that on Sunday, Malaysia had also started to
withdraw its military personnel.

Meanwhile, AFP reported that the U.S. military, which has had
one of the highest-profile roles in Aceh relief operations, was
also preparing to scale down its presence in the province.

Captain Larry Burt, commander of the air wing aboard the USS
Abraham Lincoln that has been stationed just off Banda Aceh and
had been the base for Seahawk and Chinook helicopters, told the
news agency on Saturday that the navy was preparing a phased
pull-out.

"We're kind of in a transition phase right now," Burt said.

In a related development, the World Food Program said on
Sunday that it was sending its first ship to deliver food to
Aceh's ravaged coastal areas, in an apparent sign that civilian
groups were preparing to fill the gap as foreign troops began
pulling out.

AP reported that a 400-ton landing vessel carrying WFP aid was
due to arrive in Calang city for its first delivery, said Gerald
Bourke, spokesman for the UN body. Thousands of victims are in
makeshift camps among the ruins of the destroyed city. Relief
workers hope to leave Calang a one-month supply of rice, noodles,
biscuits, fish and vegetable oil, Bourke said.

The WFP also hopes to increase its helicopter fleet to 10 from
the current two, Bourke said.