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VIP visits slowing aid work
08/01/2005 13:33 - (SA)
Banda Aceh - The steady stream of dignitaries visiting the tsunami-devastated coast of Indonesia's Aceh province is clogging the region's tiny main airport and slowing down critical aid deliveries, humanitarian workers said on Saturday.
Visits by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and US Secretary of State Colin Powell have shut provincial capital Banda Aceh's only airport temporarily for security reasons, meaning incoming shipments cannot land and injured survivors cannot be evacuated.
"It slows things down," said Major Murad Khan of Pakistan's Tsunami Relief Task Force. "I think they need to coordinate that better."
Before the disaster struck, the tiny air strip handled about three flights each day. Now it is a bustling hub for relief operations and has to cope with dozens of daily flights.
A delegation of American senators and representatives was arriving to see Banda Aceh on Saturday. Tim Gerhardson, speaking for the US Embassy in Jakarta, said they were coming by helicopter from the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier so as not to take up a landing strip slot.
Major General Bambang Darmono, Indonesia's military commander for Aceh, said there was "no policy" on closing the airport completely but standard security procedures required that flights be "reorganized" around the visits of dignitaries.
The 220-person Pakistani team of military doctors and civilian engineers was one of several aid missions that faced delays because of high-profile visitors.
Initially scheduled to arrive on December 31, they were rerouted to the east Sumatran city of Medan because the Banda Aceh airstrip was unavailable. From Medan, they hired trucks to make the 15-hour drive, but as they neared the provincial capital the Indonesian army refused to let them through so they drove back, Khan said.
"In Medan we were hearing that Colin Powell was there and that's why we couldn't get here," said Khan, drinking tea near the airport's tarmac. "At least we're here now, that's what's important."
An Asian diplomat from a country with a military relief mission in Aceh, where more than 104 000 people died in the huge quake and subsequent tsunami, called it "a difficult situation."
"VIPs come in and see the destruction for themselves and then aid follows," said the diplomat, who asked that he and his country not be identified.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi have been among the visitors to Aceh. Singapore flew a mobile air traffic control tower to the airport on Friday to replace damaged equipment and help smooth takeoffs and landings.
Not all dignitaries have disrupted deliveries. British International Development Secretary Hilary Benn said he flew into Aceh on a cargo plane delivering aid.
The International Organisation of Migration said it was organizing the first truck convoy to carry supplies to the stricken region from Jakarta ? 1 500km away- on Monday because the airport is so busy.
- AP
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