[Ed. Why bother, they will only go back to hacking Christians to pieces when
they are back on their feet. The Tsunami did the world a favour...]
Indonesia wants foreign troops out, defends restrictions on tsunami aid
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/050112/1/3psy7.html
Thursday January 13
Indonesia told foreign troops helping tsunami victims to get out of the
country soon and defended tough new restrictions on aid workers, while rich
nations prepared to freeze Jakarta's debt repayments.
Vice President Yusuf Kalla said foreign troops should leave tsunami-hit Aceh
province on Sumatra island as soon as they finish their relief mission,
staying no longer than three months.
"Three months are enough. In fact, the sooner the better," Kalla was quoted
by the state Antara news agency as saying.
The armed forces of Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United
States have all rushed task forces to Aceh in the wake of the December 26
disaster which killed at least 106,500 Indonesians out of a total of more
than 159,000 deaths in Asia.
United Nations officials struggling to coordinate a massive relief operation
have welcomed their participation, particularly to deliver aid to isolated
coastlines accessible only by sea or air.
But their presence in Indonesian territory has been a sensitive issue for
the world's largest Muslim-populated nation which has traditionally kept
foreign military, particularly the United States and Australia, at arm's
length.
The vice president said Aceh in the near future would need foreign medical
workers and engineers instead of military assistance.
"Foreign troops are no longer needed," he said.
Kalla's comments came after the country's military imposed sweeping new
restrictions on foreign relief workers operating in Aceh, claiming they were
in danger from rebels waging a long-running separatist war.
[Ed. All the more reason not to be there at all, give the Indonesian
government a chance to step up to the plate and hit a home run with THEIR
money and expertise - the govt are poor, it is just the peasants living
under them....]
But an Indonesian doctor whose ordeal at the hands of rebels has been used
to justify the government restrictions disputed the official version of the
incident.
Mulia Hasyimi, the head of Aceh's health office, confirmed he was seized by
the rebels, but told AFP he was not shot and his time in captivity lasted
less than an hour, contrary to government claims he was reputedly held for
several days and shot.
Analysts have said they believe the government move was an attempt to
reassert the military's control over the province, an accusation the
government has denied.
Senior officials said foreign journalists would also be confined to major
towns in the province, closing a post-disaster window of press freedom in
the region which was locked down almost two years ago during a military
offensive.
Indonesian troops have already begun accompanying United Nations missions to
help victims of the tsunami and liaison officers are to be posted on the
scores of foreign navy ships and military and civilian aircraft bringing in
thousands of tonnes of emergency supplies.
Despite statements from Free Aceh Movement rebels, known as GAM, pledging
the safety of volunteers, Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab said the government
was concerned attacks on aid staff could scare off foreign assistance.
The emergency phase of the tsunami relief effort in Aceh is not moving fast
enough and is likely to last three more months, UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan's special humanitarian envoy said Wednesday.
Margareta Wahlstrom said relief work was progressing at a comparable pace to
other tsunami-hit countries, given that the scale of destruction in
Indonesia was so much greater, but that was still not fast enough.
Wahlstrom said she remained concerned with inadequate coordination among all
groups taking part in the relief effort.
"There are a lot of resources, many organisations here. What we have to do
is ensure better interfacing. That's our priority. Things need to move a
little faster," she said.
However she said new government regulations imposed on foreign aid workers
and journalists in Aceh province were not impeding the relief effort.
"I don't see these as restrictions. They are not saying you cannot go. They
are saying, let us know when you go," Wahlstrom said.
Meanwhile, government creditors in the Paris Club of wealthy nations were
set to agree at a meeting in the French capital Wednesday on freezing debt
repayments by countries hit by the disaster.
Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Seychelles "will be the three countries I think
which will accept this proposition," French Finance Minister Herve Gaymard
told French radio Radio France Internationale.
Other countries affected, like Thailand and Malaysia, have "a lower level of
indebtedness than the others and do not want their credit rating to be
downgraded on the international financial markets," he explained.
Indonesia's foreign debt comes to about 132 billion dollars, and the country
is looking at three billion dollars in payments this year to service that
debt.
In Sri Lanka, an aid package estimated at about three billion dollars was
being worked out as the island seeks to recover from the disaster which left
more than 30,000 dead across the country.
Officials from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Japan
International Cooperation Agency were in talks with the Sri Lankan
government to work out the reconstruction plan.
On Tuesday, the United Nations secured 717 million dollars in record time
for tsunami victims in Asia -- 73 percent of a 977-million-dollar appeal
launched last week to meet immediate needs in the next six months.
Some nine billion dollars has been pledged worldwide in short and long term
aid after the disaster.
The figure, obtained by an AFP count, includes government money, donations
pledged in an unprecedented outpouring of global public sympathy --
"humanity at its best," Egeland said -- as well as debt relief and loans.
--
Jim
http://www.antimulticulture.0catch.com
Union Against Multi-Culty
"Abolish Multiculturalism and String Up The Traitors!" |