Iran gives US$1.5m in aid to Aceh

JAKARTA; President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received a check worth US$1.5 million for tsunami-ravaged Aceh from the government and people of Iran on Wednesday.

"The check is a grant, not a loan that must be repaid," Iran's Minister of Social Welfare Hossien Sarifzadegan said after delivering the money to Susilo at the presidential office in Jakarta.

Sarifzadegan said that Indonesian help for the victims of the 2003 earthquake in Iran prompted its government and people to assist the Acehnese in their hour of need.

The Iranian government would also donate 5,000 tons of top quality dates to the Acehnese people, he said.

The minister said his country had sent tents, blankets, stoves, rice and sugar for people displaced by the tsunami.

Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said Iran had also offered assistance with the rebuilding of Aceh as it had a great deal of experience with post-earthquake reconstruction work. --JP