ASEAN needs UN to maintain emergency aid: RI

Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is likely to ask the United Nations to coordinate the emergency relief for tsunami victims in the region.

Indonesian Ministry for Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said the UN could ensure the sustainability of foreign aid to those countries ravaged by the earthquake and tsunami.

The suggestion for a greater UN role in post-tsunami relief efforts arose on Wednesday during a meeting of senior ASEAN officials here, ahead of the international tsunami relief summit on Thursday.

"The UN has a unique role in leading international attention and political will. But we need to define the ways we can utilize the UN's unique role for one purpose. For this, we need the wisdom of all the leaders," said Marty, who is also the foreign ministry's directorate general for ASEAN cooperation.

He said the suggestion required the approval of heads of state attending the summit to become official.

Marty underlined the importance of sustainable foreign emergency aid, citing to the failure of donor countries to keep their promises for relief aid in the aftermath of the earthquake in Bam, Iran. The Iran quake, which claimed 30,000 lives, occurred exactly one year before the Asian disaster, on Dec. 26, 2003.

According to media reports, Iranian president Mohammad Khatami said on the first anniversary of the quake that Iran received only US$17 million, far below the $1 billion pledged by foreign donors. Khatami did not identify any individual countries. As a consequence, Iranian quake victims were denied basic needs, such as shelter and medical treatment.

The leaders of 19 countries are to issue a joint declaration at the end of the one-day summit at the Jakarta Convention Center, which is to detail rehabilitation and reconstruction measures. The declaration will also determine mitigation and prevention phases, specifically the need to install an Indian Ocean early warning system.

Koji Tsuruoka, deputy director-general of foreign policy at the Japanese foreign ministry, told a press briefing here that the summit would see the end to an international coalition to coordinate worldwide relief and reconstruction efforts for tsunami-stricken countries.

"The task will be conducted either bilaterally between donors and affected countries or through UN coordination," he said.

The coalition, grouping Japan, India, the U.S. and Australia, and including Canada, the Netherlands and the UN, was announced on Dec. 29 by U.S. President George W. Bush.

"The coordination and identification of priority (after the coalition is disbanded) are going to be the prerogative of the affected governments," Tsuruoka said.

"In Indonesia, for example, Vice President Jusuf Kalla has been appointed to coordinate national emergency relief efforts. We are very comfortable and confident that this will be effective," he said.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer expressed a hope that the summit would develop concrete measures for coordinating relief and rehabilitation efforts.

"... (The summit) will make a major contribution to ensuring that there is a coordinated effort and (that) they are stronger contributions than might have been the case without the summit," Downer said on Wednesday before meeting Kalla.

He said the Australian government was particularly concerned about medium- and long-term relief and rehabilitation efforts.

"In the case of Aceh, these communities have been stripped bare, and I think it could take years (to rebuild) ... by, and with the help of the outside world, the survivors," Downer said.