U.S., TNI forces to assist Nias

JAKARTA: The United States and Indonesia will undertake their first military-to-military operations since the U.S. government's restrictions on defense cooperation were put in place years ago, by constructing two schools and two bridges on the disaster- ravaged island of Nias.

A group of U.S. Army Civil Affairs soldiers and Naval Construction Force sailors, known as Seabees, from the U.S. Pacific Command (Pacom) will work in partnership with a TNI Engineer Battalion to carry out development projects in the southern and western part of Nias, a U.S. Embassy media release stated on Wednesday.

The embassy also said that Pacom had allocated US$1.3 million in humanitarian assistance funding for the projects, which are expected to take approximately four months to complete. -- JP