Foreign troops could leave tsunami zone in a month: UN
Foreign troops could leave tsunami zone in a month: UN
Agence France-Presse, Bangkok
Most foreign troops operating in tsunami-devastated areas, such
as Indonesia's Aceh province, could be home in a month, the UN
head of tsunami coordination efforts Margareta Wahlstrom said on
Friday.
As relief operations shifted from emergency airlifts to
regular land and sea deliveries, the need for foreign troops was
rapidly diminishing, Wahlstrom told reporters.
"In a number of weeks from now -- it's not firmly set yet but
possibly in another month -- the military will be able to phase
out," Wahlstrom said, while praising the efforts of international
forces.
Wahlstrom did not say whether controversy surrounding foreign
soldiers in Aceh was behind the push to transfer relief
deliveries to civilians.
Some Indonesian politicians and Islamic hardliners have
criticized the presence of foreign forces in Aceh, where clashes
between government soldiers and separatists continue.
Indonesia's army said on Thursday it had killed 120 separatist
rebels in the past two weeks in the tsunami-devastated province
despite pledges by both sides to cease fighting to focus on
relief efforts.
Wahlstrom said the pullout would not affect the security of
relief workers as international forces had only been engaged in
humanitarian operations.
"Our situation has not changed in Aceh, and we do not have any
security concerns," she said, adding the withdrawal was also part
of efforts underway to move from emergency aid to long-term
reconstruction.
"We are now looking at phase two of the operation which has
already started now and this is a stabilization period to assist
people to settle down a bit and try to contribute to job
generation," she said.
She also warned that the death toll -- currently close to
222,000 people across the Indian Ocean -- would continue to climb
because in many cases whole families of 50 to 100 people had been
wiped out, leaving no survivor to report the missing or the dead.
"If there is no one left to say I have lost half my family, it
will take a long time before the communities get together again
and really identify where all their relatives are," said
Wahlstrom.
"This will be a process that will go on for some time before
we reach a reasonable number that we can accept," she said.