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| Sunday, 9 January 2005 |
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Indonesian disaster toll climbs past 107,000 BANDA ACEH, Indoe Saturday (AFP) Nearly 6,000 more Indonesians were confirmed on Saturday to have died in the tsunami disaster, bringing the death toll from the earthquake and waves that pounded Aceh province to more than 107,000. As the toll continued to climb, international concern also rose about the impacts on the multinational relief operation from a 28-year-old separatist insurgency and a potential danger from hardline Islamists. Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer was quoted as saying Saturday that there were fears foreign aid workers could be caught in the crossfire between separatist rebels and the Indonesian military (TNI). "The insurgents, GAM, might get into some kind of a military exchange with TNI and it's conceivable Australians could end up in the crossfire there," the Weekend Australian newspaper quoted him as saying. Downer's comments echoed those of Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew, who said Friday he had pressed his Indonesian counterpart, Hasan Wirayuda, to safeguard a ceasefire between the military and the rebels. "I made it clear that Canada wants that ceasefire to be respected by all parties including the military and the independence movement," Pettigrew told Canadian reporters in a conference call from Phuket, Thailand. The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been fighting for independence for the resource-rich province since 1976. The conflict has claimed thousands of lives and increased in intensity in 2003 when the government imposed martial law and stepped up its military offensive. The rebels and government forces both announced ceasefires in the days after the tsunamis struck, but there have been many reports of clashes since, with the military saying at least three insurgents have been killed. |
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