U.S. PR chief visits Aceh market

U.S. PR chief visits Aceh market

U.S. image builder Karen Hughes lifts a baby as a Banda Aceh
resident looks on. Hughes made a brief visit to Aceh on Saturday
at the end of her three-day trip to Indonesia.

During her visit to the tsunami-wrecked area, the goodwill
envoy strolled through a market to get a firsthand look at
recovery efforts. She also mingled with traders at the local
market. The traditional market was destroyed in the Dec. 26
tsunami catastrophe but was rebuilt with the support of the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID).

Hughes, the U.S. undersecretary of state for public diplomacy
and public affairs commented after the brief visit she was
delighted to see hope was high in the province and the Acehnese
themselves playing a major role in the rebuilding process.

Government figures put the number of people killed or missing
in the disaster at 126,915, while more than 400,000 others were
displaced.

The Aceh visit was a good note to end on for Hughes who
came up against a critical audience in Jakarta on Friday, when
she was bombarded with questions on U.S. foreign policy.

Hughes visited Indonesia as parts of efforts by the U.S.
government to improve its battered image after it invaded two
sovereign countries, Iraq and Afghanistan. -- Nani Afrida/The
Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh