Indonesia Retreats on Foreign Aid Ruling

Indonesia backtracked yesterday on its ruling that thousands of foreign troops and aid workers involved in the tsunami relief effort in Aceh would have to leave the province by the end of March.

After meeting America's deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, the defence minister, Juwono Sudarsono, said the date was now a target for Indonesian officials to take over most of the work and not a deadline for foreigners' expulsion.

"We would like to emphasise that March 26 is not a deadline for involvement of foreign military personnel in the relief effort," Mr Sudarsono said. "It is a benchmark for the Indonesian government to improve and accelerate its relief efforts, so that by March 26 the large part of the burden of the relief effort will be carried by the Indonesian government and Indonesian authorities."

Several senior Indonesian officials, including the vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, had said most foreign troops and aid workers would have to end their missions within three months of the Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 115,000 people in Aceh and left some 700,000 dependent on aid.

Mr Sudarsono said he expected Indonesia's air force to have expanded its capacity within the next two months.

Aircraft are at a premium because so many roads in Aceh have been destroyed, most notably the main road down the west coast of Sumatra.

Much of the airlifting is currently being done by US, Australian, Malaysian, Singaporean and British aircraft because most of Indonesia's air force is moribund following six years of economic crisis.

Indonesia's military chief, General Endriartono Sutarto, also dismissed the speculation about the expulsion of foreigners. He said the announcement was merely a "wake-up call" to Indonesians to work harder.

"We have to be self-sufficient," he said. "We cannot be dependent on foreign aid. So we just want all Indonesians involved in the aid operation to work as hard as possible so we can restore our pride."

Jakarta-based diplomats said they were not surprised by the U-turn, because restricting foreigners would have jeopardised future aid to Indonesia.

"And besides, the Indonesians just can't do it by themselves," one said. "They haven't got the money, the skills or the resources."

Indonesia has announced it will send about 10,000 extra soldiers to Aceh this week to help with the clean-up.

Foreign troops are also continuing to stream in.

An advance party for a 1,000-strong contingent of Japanese troops arrived in Banda Aceh yesterday, the largest Japanese relief force to be deployed overseas.

Acehnese aid workers were delighted that foreigners would now be staying longer, because they believe their presence reduces local people's stress.

"I would say about two-thirds of the Acehnese either do not trust the Indonesian military or actively fear them," one worker said, on condition of anonymity.

"For decades the Indonesian military has been terrorising the Acehnese as it tries to crush the separatists. With foreigners here that is no longer possible to the same extent."

Indonesia has been fighting the separatist Free Aceh Movement (Gam) since 1976. The conflict has cost about 14,000 lives and prompted widespread accusations of human rights abuses. Indonesia has used the potential Gam threat as an excuse to restrict foreign aid missions' travel in Aceh.

Gam, which has offered a ceasefire and negotiations with Jakarta to discuss the best way to get aid to the tsunami survivors, claims the government is using a nonexistent threat as an excuse to clamp down on outsiders.

Budi Atmadi, operations chief of the government's disaster relief team, said that while foreign aid workers would not be expelled, those entering the province for political purposes would not be allowed to stay.

"We have heard that some foreigners who do not want to help with the aid operation but stir [up trouble] have already come in," he said without specifying any individuals or organisations. "When we find them we will expel them."