South African president visits Banda Aceh

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Before cohosting the Asian-African Summit in Jakarta, South African President Thabo Mbeki has managed to fit in a visit to the tsunami-hit city of Banda Aceh on Wednesday.

In a brief tour with Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab, Mbeki visited the Baiturrahim mosque, one of the few structures left intact in the coastal district of Ulee Lheue, Banda Aceh, after the quake-triggered tsunami slammed into Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and North Sumatra on Dec. 26 last year.

In the mosque, Mbeki talked to residents, asking them how they had been managing since the disaster, which claimed tens of thousands of lives.

After spending about 15 minutes in the mosque, the entourage returned to Banda Aceh airport, taking a different route than that by which they had arrived so as to allow Mbeki to see the full extent of the devastation.

"The visit is a sympathetic gesture to find out about the situation in Banda Aceh in the aftermath of the tsunami," said Aceh's acting governor, Azwar Abubakar, who hosted the South African president during his visit.

Mbeki landed in Jakarta on Tuesday, the first head of state to arrive for the summit, and promptly held talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

South Africa and Indonesia are cohosting the summit of Asian and African leaders, which opens in Jakarta on Friday. On Thursday, Mbeki is scheduled to fly to Singapore for a short visit before returning to Jakarta the same evening.

Prior to his departure for Aceh, Mbeki received a courtesy call from Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Mbeki was earlier scheduled to visit the Lampu'uk mosque in Aceh Besar, but the visit was canceled and the entourage traveled to Ulee Lheue instead.

A source said the cancellation was the result of a shooting incident in Lampu'uk the day before the visit.

According to the Aceh Besar military commander, Lt. Col. Joko Warsito, a firefight took place on Tuesday at noon between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"It happened in the Sikalay mountains area in Lampu'uk," he said, adding that a TNI soldier, First Sergeant Edi Fatimin, had been shot in the leg and was now being treated in the Iskandar Muda Military Hospital.

GAM admitted the incident in Lampu'uk, with its spokesman, Teungku Muksalmina, saying its forces had suffered no casualties.