U.S., TNI forces to assist Nias

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