The global effort to bring relief to countries devastated by the tsunami is under threat from the re-emergence of insurgencies in both Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Indonesia’s army stepped up security on Sunday in Aceh following gunfire at the weekend in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, close to the United Nations’s main compound. Nobody was hurt. Police blamed separatist rebels of Gam, or the Free Aceh Movement, which has been fighting for independence from Jakarta for 25 years.
”The security operation conducted by Indonesia’s military and police will protect and secure the humanitarian efforts,” said president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to allay concerns for the safety of the hundreds of western aid workers pouring in.
The shooting came after the army shot seven suspected rebels last week — on a beach in the coastal village of Lampook, which was destroyed by the tsunami and where around 6 000 people died. Both sides had agreed a ceasefire for the disaster, which killed at least 104 000 Indonesians. This appears to have broken down.
There were fears on Sunday night that if the violence got worse the aid operation in Aceh could be disrupted. Distribution of relief is already hampered by torrential rain preventing some helicopters from reaching the worst affected areas on Aceh’s west coast.
Aid agencies reacted calmly to news of the shooting, but said they were assessing the situation. ”You have to proceed with due caution. This has been and is a zone of conflict,” said Aly-Khan Rajami, programme manager of CARE International.
On Sunday Tamil guerrillas reacted angrily after the Sri Lankan government had cited security concerns to prevent the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, from going to rebel-held areas in the north and east to visit survivors of the tsunami disaster.
In Sri Lanka, Annan said the government should use the world’s support to heal the island’s ethnic divisions and to end the civil war. He said: ”I hope Sri Lanka would use the support and the goodwill, not only to recover from this tragedy but as an opportunity to unite in the work for peace.”
An earthquake measuring 6,2 on the Richter scale hit northern Sumatra early this morning, shaking buildings and sending people scrambling from their homes. – Guardian Unlimited Â