Posted on 01/13/2005 1:13:01 PM PST by Eurotwit
THE United Nations today appealed to Indonesia to lift its March deadline on foreign military relief operations in Aceh province but said a second wave of deaths from disease in tsunami-hit nations had probably been averted.
More than 100,000 of the estimated 163,000 killed by last month's tsunami were in Aceh. Half a million people in the province are homeless and some 2000 to 3000 bodies wash ashore each day, Jan Egeland, the UN emergency relief co-ordinator, told a news conference.
The Indonesian government is edgy about a foreign presence in areas where separatists have fought the army for three decades for a homeland on Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, the most devastated region after the December 26 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said this week foreign troops should leave Indonesia by the end of March or "the sooner the better", saying the emergency would be over in three months.
Mr Egeland said extensive military relief flights, which are the only way to reach inaccessible areas, could end by March, but a deadline would not save lives.
"I am sure the Indonesian government will agree with me the most important thing is to save lives and not have deadlines," he said in a speech to the Asia Society in New York before his UN news conference.
The United Nations has obtained on loan 10 helicopters for civilian aid flights to supply fresh water and ferry in doctors over the next year and Mr Egeland expected them to be in Aceh "for as long as needed, maybe a year".
He said he no longer feared that disease would cause as many deaths as the tsunami did because of the lack of fresh water and medical facilities and overcrowded shelters.
"I do not think it is a right prediction any more that as many people can die from the second wave as we then feared in the beginning," Mr Egeland said.
There has been an outbreak of measles in the city of Banda Aceh but, he said, "doctors were dealing with that problem".
Indonesia also wants relief workers to get permission to travel through many areas of the country and says its army has to accompany foreigners to the western coast of Aceh because of rebel attacks.
Mr Egeland said there were times relief workers needed army escorts but he was worried about insecurity in general or political restrictions. His deputy, Marietta Wahlstrom, is currently in Banda Aceh to get restrictions clarified.
"Humanitarians do not like military escorts," he said. They accept such escorts in exceptional cases and ask for them only when the situation is very dangerous, Mr Egeland said.
"We have an important meeting in Indonesia to clarify both the issue of when the military assets would have to leave, if at all, and also the question of possible reporting and restrictions on movement outside of (the towns of) Banda Aceh and Meulaboh," he said.
The United States has also asked Jakarta to explain the new restrictions. The US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off Aceh with its 10 helicopters proved a major boost to the Aceh relief effort.
Singapore, India and Australia also have troops and aid workers in Indonesia
Why wait, I say leave now and let em rot.
And to get to those really pristine ski runs in the Alps which don't have ski lifts on them yet.
"I am sure the Indonesian government will agree with me the most important thing is to save lives and not have deadlines," he said in a speech to the Asia Society in New York before his UN news conference.
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The Indonesian Government knows what is best for it's people. If they want us to leave, Leave!!! Get out now, Have a nice day! Make sure we take all of our equipment with us, trucks etc. We wouldn't want to cause any problems for them. Pull Out!!
Maybe all of our Reps and Senators will go to the US Borders and "INVESTIGATE" and show the same amount of Interest in the Illegal ALiens crossing our borders. Use the Equipment to start securing our borders and controlling the flow of people into our country.
Agreed. The Indonesian government has to show that it has power and capability or its people may well get restive. Lets pack up and go home. The benefit for us is that it removes the excuse for the UN disaster vultures to stay on the payroll. Less opportunity for them to carpet-bag.
Put a pigs chingus mingus up you know where and get the hell out of there.
Absolutely, Pull out, let the NGO's handle it! Our government can use our TAX money elsewhere. The personal donations by us has more than matched or exceeded most of the other countries, we have no shame here!
When I read things like this I just shake my head with my mouth wide open in incredulity! Not at the Indonesians, though; at everyone else involved here! I just cannot understand why there is so much bitching about the ungrateful Indonesians preventing this great giveaway. It is like these people complaining are from another planet. The simple solution for any sane person would be to then give away what they've got to another, more grateful, country. But no, these people fall all over themselves in their self-flagellation and blame themselves for the crappy attitude of the Indonesians! We truly live in a world gone mad!
Get out and dont forget the checkbook.
The last thing we need is for some of our military to get blown up by some idiot Muslim that wanted us out.
I say bring the troops home,stop all aid payments.
Has anyone else noticed how the numerous aid workers in Aceh talk? Aside from military personnel who do not make political comment, the remainder interviewed sound like left wing islamist supporters intent upon enabling the fanatics in the region.
I believe it's understandable the Indonesian government, who have been fighting 'rebels' (islamic fanatics)in Aceh for several decades, would prefer to dispense with 'aid workers' who quite obviously support the 'rebel' cause.
The islamists in Aceh are a threat to the existence of the third largest democray in the world. Let Indonesia deal with Aceh as they see fit.
Now that they have financial commitments from us, they figure they can kick us out. Let's get out of there NOW! Screw these ungrateful people.
Your comment does not take into account that the Indonesian government, the third largest democracy in the world, is threatened by the islamists - whose ambition it is to create civil unrest/civil war in an attempt to establish sharia throughout the region. Have you heard of Mantiqi 1,2,3,4?
1. Indonesia.
2. Malaysia.
3. Philipines.
4. Papua & Australia.
The majority of Indonesians are not fanatical islamists. They are fighting the same war against terror as the rest of us are.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation with 240 million people.
The Bush Administration has offered U.S. assistance to Indonesia to fight Islamic terrorism - which is absurd, because Indonesia's Muslim regime engages in terrorism on a massive scale.
In October 2002, Jemaah Islamiyah - an extremely popular organization of Indonesian Muslims with close ties to Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda - set off a huge explosion in the Indonesian tourist resort of Bali. The Islamic terrorist bombing murdered 202 mostly young foreign tourists and injured 209. Among the murdered victims were 88 Australians, 7 Americans and many other victims from European countries.
he news of the massacre ignited jubilant celebrations throughout Muslim Indonesia. Many thousands of supporters of Jemaah Islamiyah openly praised the "Islamic martyrs" who committed the grisly deed. Indonesian authorities wanted to protect their multibillion dollar tourist industry and avoid facing Western economic and military sanctions that would cripple Indonesia's economy. However, balanced against those concerns was the fact that the Muslim slaughter of hundreds of young Christian tourists was immensely popular among the Indonesian Muslim people.
As part of a delicate balancing act, the Muslim terrorist regime in Indonesia decided to arrest a small minority of Jemaah Islamiyah members and charge them with complicity in the Islamic terrorist bombing. Although some were sentenced to death, all appealed their sentences and are still regarded as heroes by the Indonesian people.
On July 23, 2004, one of the convicted Muslim bombers, Maskur Abdul Kadir, successfully appealed against his conviction and has been set free. Other convicted Muslim terrorists are also expected to be freed by Indonesia's higher "courts." The Indonesian regime-controlled news media blamed the United States for exploding the bomb in order to "blacken the name of Islam." Here is the whole story on the truth about Indonesia and how they urdered 300,000 Christians in their holocaust
urdered=murdered
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