Posted on 01/21/2005 1:09:51 PM PST by mdittmar
Military hardware key to tsunami relief.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) - Aid groups warned today it might be too soon for the U.S. military to scale back its emergency operations for Asia’s tsunami victims, and an informal cease-fire between Indonesian troops and rebels appeared to have collapsed, threatening to derail relief efforts.
After a U.S. announcement yesterday that U.S. forces would immediately begin transferring responsibility for relief operations to the "appropriate host nations and international organizations," some aid groups expressed concern that the move came too quickly, as tens of thousands of survivors from the Dec. 26 tsunami were still in need of food aid and shelter.
Government tallies of the disaster’s dead have widely varied, from about 158,000 to 221,000.
"My gut feeling is that no, the civilian side isn’t ready to take over," said Aine Fay, Indonesia director for the Irish aid group Concern. "The American military, the military hardware, has been so useful.
"I’m a bit taken aback that they’re thinking of withdrawing it already," she said.
Speaking in Bangkok, Thailand, the U.N. special coordinator for tsunami relief, Margareta Wahlstrom, said she hoped the military would not leave immediately because the relief operations depend on its "resources and machinery."
She added: "In a number of weeks to a month, the military will be able to phase out, and" the operation will "be supported by an entirely civilian infrastructure."
More than 11,000 U.S. Navy, Marines, Army, Air Force and Coast Guard personnel, backed by 16 U.S. Navy ships, are involved in providing relief support in the tsunami’s aftermath, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Since the operation began, they have delivered more than 8,600 tons of relief supplies to the affected region.
Indonesian officials said last week all foreign troops should be out of their country by March 26, but they later backed away from that deadline.
Today, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono joined worshippers on Islam’s holiest day to pray at a mosque in Indonesia’s Aceh province and to reflect on the massive earthquake and waves that left anywhere from 110,229 to 166,320 Indonesians dead, according to varying government figures.
"Our tears are overflowing, and our hearts are stinging with pain," preacher Syafrudin Miga told Yudhoyono and other worshippers gathered on the Islamic feast day of Eid al-Adha at the 17th-century Baituraman mosque.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s military confirmed today that it had killed 120 suspected rebels who were interfering in relief efforts in the country’s worst-hit Aceh province, while Norwegian envoys in Sri Lanka launched a mission to ease tensions between rebels and the government over distribution of aid.
So let me get this straight, Indonesia has told us to leave their country and now the left wants us to stay their against the Indonesian Government's will?
Maybe I am just getting too cynical in my old age, but I have about had it with these whining piss ants of the planet who want it all for free.
When Indonesia tells the USA it should leave, it really should go. The area that was stricken was a Muslim area that is known for killing Christians.
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