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UN asks Indonesia not to impose deadline on foreign military relief aid
WASHINGTON : The United Nations appealed to Indonesia Thursday not to impose a deadline on Jan Egeland, a top UN relief official, also expressed concerns over possible restrictions on movements of relief workers On Wednesday, Vice President Yusuf 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. We could make it be over tomorrow, if you don't care how many die. "I am sure the Indonesian government will agree with me that the most important thing is to save lives and not have deadlines "We may need certain 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 US armed forces are spearheading relief work using helicopters and other military aircraft. Infidels! 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 all meetings are important to the UN in Indonesia today to clarify both the issue of when the military assets would have to leave, if at all oh, that phrase is a boo boo, and also the question of possible reporting and restrictions on movement outside of Bandar Aceh and Meulaboh (the two worst hit areas)," he said. Aceh was the biggest casualty of the December 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 United States had also demanded "clarification" from Jakarta on new restrictions after its aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln that serves as a key base for relief operations had to leave Indonesian territorial waters because Jakarta objected to US training flights. US 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. Did anybody die in the absence of aid? Who cares? They're only Indonesians, after all. US warships have spearheaded a huge global relief campaign in Indonesia, 110,000 people died, joined by troops from countries including Australia, Britain, Malaysia and Singapore. Indonesia is reportedly sensitive to growing impression that it was relying too heavily on outside military forces and wants to assert control over the relief operation. or let its people die, whichever comes first. 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. 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 US carrier leaves, a French one should come, if an Australian (carrier) leaves, we can have one from Singapore," he said. Get the Anglos out. That's all that matters. - AFP Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-01-13 |
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