Aid agencies downplay TNI restrictions

The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Wanting to visit Sigli to report on the activities of Doctors without Borders here, Bruno Bonamigo, producer of Radio Canada Information, reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs desk at the governor's house in Banda Aceh.

An official at the desk told Bonamigo that he could go to Meulaboh on the west coast, but not to Sigli, a town on the east coast.

The producer said Doctors without Borders had relief operations in both towns, and that the agency had recommended that he go to Sigli as it was more accessible from Banda Aceh.

"Now, I have been told (by Indonesian officials) that I may not go to Sigli, so, I have no alternative but to find a way to Meulaboh," Bonamigo told The Jakarta Post here.

Bonamigo was one of the first victims of the government's new policy of restricting the movements of over 2,000 civilian foreign aid workers in Aceh for security reasons.

The move was announced on Tuesday by Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, who said security forces could not guarantee the safety of foreign aid workers from separatist rebels in the province.

On Wednesday, the disaster mitigation task force in Aceh issued a statement that says all foreigners, including individuals, country representatives, United Nations agencies, NGOs and journalists, are not allowed to operate outside Banda Aceh and its surrounding areas without clearance from the Indonesian authorities.

The policy applies to foreigners who have just arrived as well as those already in Aceh.

"It is important to note that the government would be placed in a very difficult position if any foreigner who came to Aceh to assist in the aid effort was harmed through the acts of an irresponsible party," said the statement, apparently referring to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"Such an event would severely hamper the humanitarian effort, which remains the government's first priority, and would distract officials from their focus on providing relief," it added.

Budi Prastowo of the foreign affairs desk said that all foreigners must fill in a registration form at the desk, explaining where they want to go and why.

"The forms will be submitted to Aceh Police Headquarters which, together with the military, will assess within 24 hours whether the intended destinations of either aid workers or reporters is safe for them, or whether they need police guard or soldiers to escort them," he added.

Asked by the Associated Press if it was possible that groups could be expelled from Aceh if they disregarded the order, chief welfare minister Alwi Shihab said: "I think that is one possibility". He did not elaborate.

The restrictions would likely affect humanitarian operations in areas outside Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar and Meulaboh, particularly in coastal towns between Meulaboh and Banda Aceh, which were hardest hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

Indonesian authorities have not specified how they would reach and assist refugees in those areas without the help of foreign agencies.

As of Wednesday, helicopters belonging to many nations continued to airlift aid from the airport in Banda Aceh to a number of places outside the city, including Meulaboh. But it was not clear whether the restrictions had affected aid distribution in certain areas.

A senior UN official downplayed the new restrictions. "The cooperation with the government of Indonesia remains, I think, excellent," said Kevin Kennedy from the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"In no way has it impacted or diminished our ability to move about or to access populations," Kennedy was quoted by Agence France Presse as saying at the UN headquarters in New York.

Raul de la Rosa, an aid worker from the Christian Children's Fund, which has helped tsunami survivors in Bireuen, North Aceh, said that he hoped the new policy would not affect its plan to assist displaced people there and in Sigli.

"As long as it does not hinder us from helping them, it should be all right," he said.

In Canberra, Australian Prime Minister John Howard supported the Indonesian government's demand that foreign aid workers and journalists report their movements outside Banda Aceh, saying it was "a good idea".

"It is very, very important that in the process of giving full effect to this magnificent international response, that we recognize the difficulties in Aceh, but that we don't overreact to them and we don't dramatize them," he was quoted by AP as saying. Editorial -- Page 6