Australia ready for food mission

Australia ready for food mission

SYDNEY (AFP): Australian officials flew to Seoul on Sunday for talks with China, Japan and South Korea amid reports that Canberra is readying its armed forces to mount a rescue mission in Indonesia.

A defense department spokesman said a request from Jakarta for help with massive food shortages was possible and it was monitoring the flying hours of its Hercules transport aircraft, sea-time of its ships and crew leave.

"We are thinking about it and we are providing for it by keeping a sharp eye on our defense priorities," the senior official told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Australia played a major part in the recent food airlift in Irian Jaya.

The World Food Program is sending a team into Indonesian villages to reassess the extent of the hunger following recent increases in basic food prices, which have quadrupled since the country's economic crisis began a year ago.

The International Labor Organization said last week more than 15,000 people were losing their jobs each day.

A spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told AFP there had been no indication that the situation in Indonesia had significantly deteriorated in the past few weeks, but the issue would be discussed at meetings in South Korea starting Tuesday.