New security fears rattle aid effort in Indonesia's Aceh

New security fears rattle aid effort in Indonesia's Aceh by Karl Malakunas = (PICTURES) = ATTENTION - RECASTS, INSERTS World Bank assessment, WFP assessment ///

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Jan 18 (AFP) - New security fears jarred aid efforts in tsunami-hit Indonesia Tuesday while officials gave up trying to count the dead and the UN pledged to speed the departure of foreign military missions. The United Nations had imposed a 24-hour limit on staff movements in stricken Aceh province amid warnings of potential terrorist attacks and military clashes with rebels involved in a decades- long independence struggle. But Joel Boutroue, the head of UN operations in Aceh, said Tuesday despite "rumors" of a threat, the ban on using a key supply route between Aceh's provincial capital Banda Aceh and the North Sumatran city of Medan was no longer needed. "There is no reason to discontinue aid," he told AFP. "We don't expect relief workers to be targets." Several countries warned a day earlier that their citizens could be in danger in Aceh, although it was not specified whether the risk was from the ongoing civil conflict or from militant extremists at large in Indonesia. Denmark's foreign ministry said in a statement that it, and a number of other unidentified countries, had "received information that a terrorist attack was forthcoming against humanitarian organizations in the Aceh region". Helsinki's Ambassador to Jakarta Markku Niinioja said his embassy had issued an alert to Finnish relief workers in Aceh following information of a possible threat, but he said he had no specific details. Indonesian authorities denied a heightened risk, insisting that new military procedures would negate any threat from the rebels while extremists were not an issue, despite the arrival of militant Islamic groups to help with relief work. "There are no terrorists here, only GAM," said Aceh military spokesman Eddi Sulistiadie, referring to the Free Aceh Movement rebels by their Indonesian acronym. "As long as humanitarian workers notify us about their movements we can assure their safety but we will have difficulty securing them if they move covertly," he said. Indonesia last week said all foreigners operating in the province must register with the authorities and would require military escort outside major towns and cities in the province, drawing protests from some aid groups. Rebel leaders, who have declared a unilateral cease-fire and called for peace talks, insisted they would not attack foreign humanitarian workers and have only reacted in self-defense to ongoing military operations against them. The spokesman for the Indonesian military's disaster relief taskforce in Aceh, Djazairi Nachrowi, told AFP that conflict between the military and rebels, which flared in May 2003 with the launch of a major offensive, was ongoing. "It is true that at this phase there may be rumours and information circulating daily, including on alleged armed contact between our forces and the GAM, but these... should first be thoroughly verified," he said. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is organizing the bulk of the road convoys between Medan and Banda Aceh, also said Tuesday it did not believe there was a security threat. "One of our convoys arrived safe and sound last night.... We have another one scheduled to leave Medan sometime today," the IOM's spokesman in Banda Aceh, Chris Lom, told AFP. Meanwhile, as relief and clean-up operations continued in Aceh, where most of Indonesia's almost 115,000 victims lost their lives, officials said they had given up trying to count the dead, meaning the final toll may never be known. A spokeswoman for the social affairs ministry said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had ordered the halt to the bodycount, urging resources to be focused on finding the missing and caring for refugees and the sick. After a furor over a three-month deadline on the presence of foreign military aid missions in Indonesia set by Yudhoyono's deputy Yusuf Kalla, a senior UN official said Tuesday it would help speed the troops' exit. Although the Indonesian government has since backtracked on the ultimatum, World Food Programme Asia chief Anthony Banbury said that while foreign forces led by the United States have played a crucial role, the UN should take over. "Even less than three months' time is our objective," he said. As Indonesia also counted the cost of the tsunami, the World Bank said in a new report that rebuilding could carry a five billion dollar price tag over five years, but the country's economy was in reasonable shape to weather the storm. bur-bjn/ag Asia-quake-Indonesia AFP

GetAFP 2.10 -- JAN 18, 2005 16:53:49