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Sat, 17 Dec 2005

JP/Lack of funds stalls Papua aid mission

Lack of funds stalls Papua aid mission

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post/Jayapura

Food aid continued to pile up in Wamena, Dekai and Timika on Friday, as the local government said it did not have the money to transport the aid to the remote Yahukimo regency, where food shortages have reportedly left 55 people dead since November.

"The aid can only be transported by air, but costs are unbearable," said Ones Pahebol, the regent of Yahukimo, which is located about 800 kilometers from the provincial capital Jayapura.

Aid continued to trickle into the affected regency on Friday, but officials warned the flow of aid would soon stop completely as money for transportation ran out. The cost of flying food and medicine into Yahukimo is currently being covered by the central government and the regency administration.

Ones calculated the regency administration needed at least Rp 125 million (US$12,500) a day to purchase fuel for the relief flights. Currently, government airplanes are making two relief flights a day from Wamena, the nearest large city to Yahukimo.

The regent said there were four airplanes currently on standby in Wamena, said Ones.

"The four planes require 10 tons of airplane fuel a day, which costs Rp 125 million," said Lt. Col. Sarjono, who is heading the relief task force in Wamena. He said it would take about a month to transport all of the food and medicine already piled up in Wamena and Dekai.

Ones said cash donations were now needed to pay for the delivery of food and medicine to the people of Yahukimo.

The regency also needs about Rp 120 million to build food barns, install a communication network and set up clean water installations in 32 areas in Yahukimo most at risk of food shortages.

As the local government struggles with transportation problems, a spokesman at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned on Friday that food shortages in Yahukimo could be played up by foreign interests to undermine the integrity of Indonesia. The ministry has prepared a strategy to deal with any such threats, Yuri Thamrin said.