Acehnese want foreign troops to stay

Acehnese want foreign troops to stay

JAKARTA: Hundreds of Acehnese living in Jakarta staged a rally
in front of the United Nations (UN) mission on Wednesday to show
their support for the participation of foreign troops in the Aceh
relief operation.

The demonstrators said the foreign troops in Aceh had played
an indispensable role in the relief operation as they were
equipped with the sort of state-of-the-art equipment that was
needed to help the tsunami victims, and were highly mobile.

"We want the government to allow the foreign troops to stay in
Aceh," Islamuddin, one of the protesters, said, while holding
aloft a banner reading "The Acehnese welcome foreign aid workers
and the UN".

At the start of the relief operation, Vice President Jusuf
Kalla set a March 26 deadline for all foreign troops to leave
Aceh. However, Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said that no
deadline had been imposed and that the foreign troops could stay
as long as they felt they were needed. -- Antara