Refugees Want Foreign Troops to Stay

http://www.irrawaddy.org/aviewer.asp?a=4292&z=153

 
Indonesian Refugees Want Foreign Troops to Stay
By Burt Herman/AP Writer/Banda Aceh
January 14, 2005
 


Jordanian military doctors treat patients at a clinic inside a refugee camp, 
while Australian and German troops swarm around the city's main hospital making 
repairs. The buzz of US military helicopters has become so routine it's now 
ignored. 

 

Foreign troops have been a key lifeline in the tsunami relief effort and 
welcomed warmly in Aceh province despite its history of resistance to outside 
forces. With the government now saying it wants foreign soldiers to leave by 
March 26, refugees say they hope the troops will stay as long as 
needed-provided they stick to providing aid and don't establish permanent 
bases. 

 

     
      Refugees from last month's massive tsunami are turned away by soldiers 
after aid ran out, Friday, Jan. 14, 2005, at a refugee camp in Banda Aceh, 
Indonesia.  



"If they leave, we will starve," said Syarwan, 27, a tailor who is now crowded 
with some 45 relatives under a tarp at a survivor camp in the provincial 
capital, Banda Aceh. 

 

The government request came along with new announced restrictions on aid groups 
and journalists requiring them to register with authorities and travel with 
military escorts if they venture outside the two main cities in Aceh province. 

 

The government has said the rules are for the safety of aid workers in the 
region, where rebels from the Free Aceh Movement have been fighting for 
independence since 1976. 

 

The long military campaign has bred distrust of the Indonesian army among 
locals, who complain of the corruption that would result if the tons of aid 
flooding into the region aren't monitored closely to ensure fair distribution. 

 

"We can't expect any help from the Indonesian government," said Muhammad Yusuf, 
35, another survivor camped out in a settlement that has grown to 4,000 people 
on the grounds of the local TV station. "We trust the foreign military." 

 

The province was closed to foreigners before the government allowed them in to 
help with relief efforts after the December 26 tsunami that left more than 
106,000 dead in Indonesia. 

 

Along with aid workers, hundreds of foreign troops have poured into the area, 
providing key logistics support beyond the means of any relief organization. 

 

Still, recognizing local sensitivities, none of the arriving soldiers is armed. 

 

"If you carry weapons, you're asking to get shot," said Singapore army Capt 
Vincent Yeow, head of a surgical team at a clinic with about 35 troops. Still, 
the soldiers, located on an Indonesian army base that is also hosting a camp 
for tsunami survivors, take Indonesian military escorts along when they venture 
in large groups off the base. 

 

No camouflage is visible anywhere near Lt-Col Mufadi Atawan, one of 24 
Jordanian troops at a clinic inside another refugee camp. The doctors are 
wearing scrubs and other officers are clothed in normal civilian garb, another 
nod to Indonesian sensitivities. 

 

Atawan estimated the region would likely need the boosted medical capability in 
the area for six months. 

 

However, some of the troops here said their mission would likely be completed 
by the end of March when the government wants them to leave. The brutal force 
of the tsunami immediately killed those caught in its path, and hospitals have 
been able to cope so far with the critically injured. 

 

"We're in total agreement with the assessment of the government. There is no 
problem with it," said French Army Col Philip Puyo. "France is a long way from 
Indonesia. We made a long trip. We're happy to do that. ... We hope the people 
are happy to be helped." 

 

The largest foreign military contingent is the 13,000 Americans, but under the 
agreement for them to operate here, almost all head back to their ships 
anchored offshore every evening. 

 

The US presence has raised concerns that they are here to stay, given the vast 
network of permanent American military outposts around the globe. 

 

"If they really want to help without anything political behind it, why should 
they leave?" said one 25-year-old woman camped out next to the Singapore 
clinic, who refused to give her name because she said she didn't want to upset 
the United States. 

 

She said people worried that Americans "come to help but behind it they want 
something" such as building a base. 

 

More foreign troops keep arriving. Next to the Singapore clinic, advance troops 
from a Russian medical unit that arrived Tuesday were setting up tents for a 
mobile hospital staffed by a contingent that will swell to 200 soldiers. 

 

The Australian contingent here is expected to increase to 900 by the weekend. 

 

Lt-Col. Georgiana Whelan commands more than 160 Australian and New Zealand 
troops at Banda Aceh's main Zainal Abidin Hospital, where wrecked infant 
incubators and hospital beds are stacked in the courtyard. She said their 
mission is open-ended for the moment, and that the soldiers have the ability to 
stay here for weeks or months, if required. 

 

"We've come here with the mind-set that we'll be here as long as they need us," 
she said.



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