Jakarta gets in gear for International relief summit
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Manila
Indonesia, the worst-affected country in the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster, is making preparations for an emergency summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders and other nations to help coordinate relief efforts for the survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami tragedy.
The summit will be held in Jakarta on Thursday. It will be the biggest maiden foreign policy initiative of the 75-day-old government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Presidential spokesman Dino Pati Djalal said several world and ASEAN leaders had confirmed their attendance including United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Australian Prime Minister John Howard have confirmed they will attend the summit.
Annan will arrive in Jakarta on Wednesday and meet President Susilo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla. He is also scheduled to visit some of the hardest hit areas in Aceh on Friday, the United Nations office in Jakarta said in a press release sent to The Jakarta Post on Monday.
During the one-day summit, Annan will make a consolidated appeal for the immediate relief of victims.
Annan will be accompanied by World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn and other senior UN officials during the four-day visit to Indonesia.
Another high-profile visitor to Indonesia will be U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Powell, who is already in Thailand, will arrive in Jakarta on Tuesday on a three-day visit, but it is unclear whether he will be at the summit or not, but he is slated to visit Aceh along with the U.S. special envoy Jeb Bush.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Police are preparing 14,000 personnel, or two-thirds of its total force, to provide security for a conference of 21 countries from Asia, Europe and America to discuss relief operations for nations affected by the Asian tsunami on Jan. 6.
City police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said on Monday that police officers from 14 units, including air police, detectives, and mobile brigade, would be deployed to clear critical points beginning Jan. 4.
"We will secure the routes all leaders will take when they arrive and when they go home. We will also secure the Soekarno- Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma airports as well as the Jakarta Convention Center, where the conference will be held," Firman told reporters on the sidelines of preparatory meeting for the event.
He said Jakarta would be on full alert during the conference as police still fear that terrorists would see the event as an opportunity to launch a bomb attack.
"We realize that the conference will be seen by terrorists as a key occasion to launch an attack as the international community will be focused on the conference. Besides, we also have to prepared in case of demonstrations," said Firman.
The European Union Delegation of the European Commission to Indonesia said in Jakarta on Monday that the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Assistance Louis Michel would arrive in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Michel will travel to Aceh on Wednesday and attend the emergency summit on Thursday.