UN asks RI not to impose deadline on foreign troops

UN asks RI not to impose deadline on foreign troops

P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse/Washington

The United Nations appealed to Indonesia on Thursday not to
impose a deadline on foreign troops providing relief assistance
in strife-torn Aceh province after the tsunami disaster.

Jan Egeland, a top UN relief official, also expressed concerns
over possible restrictions on movements of relief workers by the
Indonesian authorities.

On Wednesday, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said he wanted all
foreign military to leave Indonesia by the end of March or "the
sooner the better", saying the emergency would be over in that
timeframe.

"I am sure the Indonesian government will agree with me that
the most important thing is to save lives and not have
deadlines," Egeland, UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs
and emergency relief coordination, told a videoconference from
New York on the tsunami relief efforts.

"We may need certain military assets throughout the period,"
he said.

But he said that the March deadline was unlikely to pose major
problems to aid efforts because by then roads would be cleared to
move relief supplies to affected areas.

At present U.S. armed forces are spearheading relief work
using helicopters and other military aircraft.

Egeland said he was more concerned about foreign aid workers
in Aceh. "I am worried of insecurity and possible movement
restrictions either by insecurity or by political restrictions on
our movements," he said.

"We have an important meeting in Indonesia today (Thursday) to
clarify both the issue of when the military assets would have to
leave, if at all, and also the question of possible reporting and
restrictions on movement outside of Banda Aceh and Meulaboh (the
two worst hit areas)," he said.

At a briefing later at UN headquarters, Egeland confirmed
there had so far been "no restrictions on our work for political
reasons," either by the government or by Aceh rebels.

Aceh was the biggest casualty of the Dec. 26 disaster,
triggered by an undersea earthquake off Sumatra that unleashed
towering waves hitting nearly a dozen countries along the Indian
Ocean coastline and killing more than 163,000 people.

The U.S. State Department said on Thursday that Kalla had
clarified with the American envoy in Jakarta that no fixed "time
limit" would be imposed on foreign troops and that three months
was only an estimate.

But U.S. marines delivering aid to survivors were forced to
scale back their presence on shore and move to ships to address
Indonesian sensitivities and security concerns.

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln that serves as a
key base for relief operations had to leave Indonesian
territorial waters because Jakarta objected to U.S. training
flights.

U.S. warships have been spearheading a huge global relief
campaign in Indonesia, where 110,000 people died, joined by
troops from countries including Australia, Britain, Malaysia and
Singapore.

Indonesia is reportedly sensitive to the growing impression
that it was relying too heavily on outside military forces and
wants to assert control over the relief operation.

Jakarta is rushing to Aceh more local troops as Indonesian
leaders sought to portray the forces as essential in providing
security to foreigners from attacks by rebels from the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM).

The guerrillas, who have been fighting for independence since
1976, have insisted they are no threat to the international
humanitarian effort.

The government launched a massive offensive against the rebels
in May 2003 and banned most foreigners from Aceh in a bid to
avoid international scrutiny. But it was forced to scale back its
offensive and reopen Aceh to foreigners following the tsunami
disaster.

Egeland said there were five foreign helicopter carriers --
two from the United States and one each from Singapore, India and
Australia -- off Indonesian waters assisting in the relief
efforts, with one more on its way from France.

He said the United Nations was formulating "a matrix to fill
in gaps" that could arise with the departure of foreign military
and aid groups from Aceh, including new resources from Europe.

"We are doing that with the European Union countries. (EU
foreign policy chief) Javier Solana called me and offered that.
So we have people working on that in Brussels and Geneva to fill
in gaps," he said.

"So if one U.S. carrier leaves, a French one should come, if
an Australian (carrier) leaves, we can have one from Singapore,"
he said.