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.