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UN agency told to pull out of Aceh

JAKARTA: The United Nations refugee agency, under Indonesian government pressure, will pull out of tsunami-ravaged Aceh province on Friday, three months ahead of schedule, a top agency official said.

Robert Ashe, regional representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said on Thursday the agency had planned to stay in Aceh for six months, and some $33 million in unused funds would either be refunded to donors or transferred to other agencies.

“Clearly it’s their country, it’s their people, and they have the right to decide,” he told Reuters.

Ashe said staff who had been posted along Aceh’s west coast, hardest hit by the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, had already been pulled out and those in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, would leave on March 25, a day ahead of a government deadline.

“I think for them it is a personal disappointment because they feel there is more work to be done,” he said.

A UNHCR statement on the pull-out said the agency would be happy to return if invited.

“UNHCR understands the government’s desire to review and rationalise the huge humanitarian effort in Aceh as it now prepares for the next important stage - long-term reconstruction,” it said.

“The UNHCR remains ready to provide support in that stage if requested to do so by the government.” The UNHCR had been working with other agencies to help feed and shelter many of the half-million Indonesians who lost their homes in the tsunami disaster.

More than 220,000 Indonesians were killed or are still missing. The Indonesian government had set a target of March 26 for foreign aid agencies not contributing to reconstruction to leave, but the policy was eased last week.

It said the move to reduce the number of aid agencies - some 150 groups remain in the province - was necessary to consolidate efforts and provide security.

A separatist insurgency has raged in Aceh for three decades, with both rebels and government troops accused of severe human rights violations.

Despite the extended deadline, Alwi Shihab, the Indonesian minister put in charge of Aceh after the December disaster, said on Monday that the UN refugee agency and the International Organisation of Migration were no longer needed. reuters

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