More foreign troops to pull out of Aceh soon, says Alwi

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More foreign troops are expected to be withdrawn from tsunami- devastated Aceh sometime next week as the emergency phase there has almost come to an end, according to a senior minister.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab, who is also overseeing the relief operation in Aceh, said that the governments of Russia, Japan and Australia had told him they would pull their military missions out of Aceh and replace the troops with civilians in the near future.

"We no longer need the assistance of the foreign militaries. We now need the help of civilians as the need for emergency relief is over, relatively speaking, meaning that we are now able to ensure there is sufficient food and shelter for the survivors," he said.

Alwi was speaking to reporters on Tuesday after attending a meeting between Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the United Nations' humanitarian director in Indonesia, Bo Asplund, and a number of ambassadors and representatives of foreign non-governmental organizations at the vice presidential offices.

Last month, the U.S. and Singapore started to gradually pull out their military personnel and equipment from Aceh, which bore the brunt of the Dec. 26 Asian tsunami. The Indonesian government had earlier set a target of March 26 for the foreign troops to complete their work in Aceh.

The Russian military are expected to start leaving Aceh on Feb. 18, while some 900 Japanese troops will follow them shortly afterwards, Alwi said.

Earlier in the day, Australian Ambassador to Jakarta David Ritchie said that the 1,000-strong Australian military mission would withdraw from Aceh sometime next week.

"We'll replace them with civilians," he told reporters after a meeting with the Vice President, saying that his country was very happy to be able to continue providing assistance to Aceh.

The United States has already withdrawn its warships and the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that was the first military vessel to arrive off the coast of Aceh and whose helicopters transported badly needed food and medical supplies to isolated areas where roads and bridges had been destroyed.

The disaster left almost 240,000 people dead or missing here and some 400,000 homeless.

Alwi said that the government was currently finalizing a master plan for the reconstruction of Aceh. He said that Acehnese formal and informal leaders were scheduled to hold a meeting in Jakarta on Feb. 11 in connection with the adoption of the master plan.

"They will decide what they want to see being done in Aceh," he said.

Meanwhile, Kalla said that displaced persons in Aceh were expected to start moving from tents to semipermanent shelters on Feb. 15.

"We expect to move them gradually to permanent houses soon after the start of reconstruction," he said.