We need to be with govt, and they need to be with us

The United Nations has been instrumental in coordinating international efforts to help the tsunami victims in Aceh. The Jakarta Post's Riyadi Suparno spoke with the UN coordinator for relief operations in Aceh, Joel Boutroue, for his insights into the global effort to help victims in the province.

Question: How do you coordinate with all of the parties involved in relief operations?

Answer: We have people sitting with the government, and we need to improve and increase the number of our people sitting with the government, to have a better flow of information -- both ways -- so that we can better complement each other. That's one.

We need also to continue strengthening the NGOs' efforts to avoid duplication, and the UN plays a useful role there. We have regular meetings with them, so that we have a good flow of information so we can direct them. We also have government representatives in our working groups.

So, we need to be with the government, and the government needs to be with us. It often gets complicated because there are so many actors -- which is an expression of the good will of the international community to support the Indonesians -- but we don't have any other choice but better coordination.

The UN has been engaged in relief operations in Aceh for two weeks. What's the biggest challenge that has been faced so far?

The biggest hurdle is logistics ... I mean 300,000 or 400,000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) is not a huge number.

But it becomes an extremely difficult task because of poor infrastructure. The roads are destroyed and the changed landscape makes it extremely hard to reach these people in a predictable and regular manner.

Most communities have been reached in one way or another, but they have not been reached in a regular and predictable manner. So, we need to enter a new phase there, where we can try to reach them regularly and adequately.

Foreign military elements and NGOs have been instrumental in reaching refugees along the west coast of Aceh. How long do you think they will need to stay?

Well, their operation is very expensive, but for the time being we will still need their helicopters in big numbers. But I understand that the government and the military are looking for an alternative solution, like using boats.

The government is also repairing the roads as well. For example, we know that we can now go from Medan to Meulaboh via land roads, although it takes a long time, 24 hours at least.

Also, the road from Sigli to Meulaboh is also much more accessible it seems. And we need to increase that. But the roads between Meulaboh and Banda Aceh are totally inaccessible because you have to rebuild maybe 90 percent of the roads.

But this could take months. So we need to find new ways, such as using boats -- big and small -- and trucks.

The government has plans to build relocation centers for displaced persons from remote places to allow for regular assistance. What's the UN's role in this project?

We are trying to define our role in this project. We have had meetings with NGOs, the government and UN agencies, and I asked the UNHCR to facilitate that and define the roles of each.

The government has asked for our support and we are most willing to do that. We have a number of requirements which the government has agreed to such as the relocation must be voluntary, and the government has agreed to this. Also, there are other technical standards that must be respected, such as so many square meters per person and those type of things.

My understanding is that the government wants these types of relocation centers to be temporary, meaning much more adequate than the present ones. It's temporary because by such time reconstruction of individual houses can start again.

In the meantime, you need to help the poor people whose lives have been partly destroyed or those who survived but have nothing left.

In addition to relocation centers, what other things do we need with regards to displaced persons in Aceh?

We need to do two things here. First, help the IDPs wherever they are, and at the same time help the people not in relocation centers. Otherwise, we are creating an even stronger pull factor, and end up having an additional dozens of thousands of people going into these centers, which is not good for the longer term.

So, we need to help people whose houses and lives have been destroyed. Also, for those whose houses have not been destroyed but whose lives have been affected, we need to help them where they are so that they are not going down to these centers and creating an unnecessary movement of population, which in the long term could be counterproductive for the future of Aceh itself.

Putting people in centers will make them more dependent to outside assistance. And it's not good for the longer term.

We want to minimize the impacts of the centers on the entire vulnerable population.

How long will the UN continue to work in Aceh? Will it be involved in the reconstruction stage?

We need to discuss it with the government. Indeed, some development agencies, certainly the UN and the NGOs, are here not only doing the emergency programs, but also for longer term recovery programs.

And we need to discuss it sooner rather than later in a more strategic fashion with the government, where they see us supporting them in the development efforts. There are some transition programs, or what we call emergency recovery or emergency rehabilitation programs, for the whole of 2005. And we need to discuss it with the government beyond 2005.