UN Concerned about Relief Worker Restrictions

The UN supplies food aid to more than 300,000 people in Aceh. There are also reports that the Jakarta administration is demanding that foreign military units involved in relief efforts in Aceh leave the region by the end of March. The US has soldiers in the region and has demanded that the Indonesian government clarify the situation. American, Singaporean, Australian and Japanese military units are also conducting aid work in Aceh. There have been speculations recently that US military presence in the region may be permanent. Aceh was placed in a state of emergency before the earthquake struck the region on December 26th and has been closed to aid organizations and the media. The Indonesian army had been fighting against pro-independence groups in the region for the last two years.

Aceh had a good relationship with the Ottoman Empire and helped Turkey during the War of Liberation. It existed as an independent Muslim state until the early 20th century. When Indonesia declared its independence from Portugal in 1945, the region became a part of Indonesia. A group called the Ace Liberation Movement declared independence for Aceh in 1976. At that time 13,000 people died in skirmishes between the Jakarta administration and independence supporters and Jakarta granted the area partial autonomy in 2002. Islamic legal law is practiced in the area and the Aceh people’s outlawed government is demanding its share of the region’s rich oil and natural gas income.