INDONESIA: UNITED NATIONS SAYS RELIEF WORKERS NOT TARGET OF VIOLENCE IN INDONESIA'S TROUBLED ACEH PROVINCE

Record ID: 338216

  • Title: INDONESIA: UNITED NATIONS SAYS RELIEF WORKERS NOT TARGET OF VIOLENCE IN INDONESIA'S TROUBLED ACEH PROVINCE
  • Date: 9th January 2005
  • Summary: (W3) BANDA ACEH, ACEH PROVINCE (JANUARY 10, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. SLV/CU/SV OF RELIEF SUPPLIES BEING LOADED INTO HELICOPTER; CRATES AND BAGS OF RELIEF SUPPLIES WAITING TO BE LOADED (5 SHOTS) 0.33 (W3) BANDA ACEH, ACEH PROVINCE (JANUARY 9, 2005) (REUTERS) 2. SLV UNITED NATIONS COORDINATOR FOR SUMATRA AND CHIEF OF U.N. OPERATIONS IN ACEH, JOEL
  • Embargoed: 24th January 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BANDA ACEH, ACEH PROVINCE, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVABM366UA9HG6G8D8UDL8BB5PZQ
  • Story Text: United Nations says relief workers not target of violence in
    Indonesia's troubled Aceh province.


    Relief organisations working in Indonesia's tsunami-stricken
    province of Aceh on Sunday (January 9, 2005) said they were not a target of violence
    but were being vigilant in what they termed a zone of conflict.

    "We don't believe relief workers are targets. In any case, I don't
    see at this stage any hampering of our movement. As far as the incident,
    yesterday, it was just, we were told by the guards at the gate, that it was
    probably one person, sort of shooting a few rounds of ammunition, that was
    it," said Joel Boutroue, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for
    Sumatra.

    Indonesia's military beefed up security in Banda Aceh amid confusion
    over who was behind a shooting incident in the major tsunami aid base.

    Some officials blamed separatist rebels, while others said a disturbed
    government soldier fired the shots.

    No one was hurt during the incident outside the deputy police chief's
    house and near the main U.N. aid office in the capital of Aceh province on the
    island off Sumatra, where almost all of Indonesia's 104,000 deaths from the
    tsunami occurred.

    Indonesia's social welfare minister Alwi Shihab said the military was
    ordered to be on high alert because of what he called possible infiltration by
    people wary of the presence of foreign aid workers in Aceh.

    There have also been reports of militant Islamic groups moving into
    Aceh as they believed Western aid groups might use the disaster to push a
    Christian agenda.

    Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels have been fighting the government for
    nearly three decades, seeking independence for Aceh. Both sides made
    conciliatory gestures after the Dec. 26 disaster but have since accused one
    another of initiating several clashes.

    Aid workers, however, are working closely together with local
    authorities, including the military due to Aceh's being a conflict zone and
    the territory's civil emergency status.

    "I would like to emphasize there's an incredible level of
    cooperation and commitment, be it from the government, military, NGOs and the
    U.N. There's a great level of cooperation and we want it to continue that
    way," said Boutroue.


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