UNICEF FILE: BANDA ACEH

[Pamela]

This will be a permanent thread in which we will post and discuss updates of official UNICEF business concerning assistance to children in Banda Aceh and Indonesia until and after we learn of Clay's travels there for UNICEF.

Post and/or discuss!

[Pamela]

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Tetsuko Kuroyanagi visits tsunami-devastated Aceh Province
 
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, 7 February 2005 - UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Tetsuko Kuroyanagi visited tsunami-devastated Aceh Province, Indonesia, on 3-5 February.

The renowned Japanese actress witnessed firsthand the effects of the tsunami on children and families. She saw how UNICEF and its partners are working to keep children in affected areas alive and healthy, and help them and their families cope with the tragedy and get back on their feet.

Upon her arrival, she toured the now accessible streets of Banda Aceh, capital of Aceh Province. She then boarded a UN helicopter, flying over miles of destroyed coastline before arriving in Krueng Tenom.

A young boy named Adi Saputra joined Tetsuko as they walked through the rubble of the devastated community. Nine-year-old Adi lost his father in the tsunami, and his mother is still missing. He is now living with his aunt and grandmother at a relief camp. Adi told Tetsuko that when the tsunami struck, he was playing at home. Adi was fortunate enough to escape: As the 3-meter-high waves ravaged the village, he ran to the hills and remained there for several hours before his grandmother finally found him.

Tetsuko next helped out with a massive measles immunization campaign, which sought to vaccinate 1.3 million children in 13 affected districts of Aceh. Tetsuko administered vitamin A drops to several children, and encouraged and cheered up any who seemed reluctant or fearful as they received their shots. The measles campaign was developed jointly by the Indonesian Health Ministry, UNICEF and partners.  

Tetsuko chatted with students and teachers at elementary school SD 29, which has taken in students and teachers from two other schools, SD 7 and 39 – both of which were flattened in the disaster. The principals from the destroyed schools tearfully described the loss of life among their students and teachers.

Tetsuko brought along 30 children’s books, which she had written herself and which had been translated into Indonesian. She gave these books to the students at SD 29 as gifts. She also played games with them and examined drawings showing their experience of the tsunami.

Tetsuko donated toys to two child centres. The centres provide a place where children can come to play and receive counselling if needed, and also maintain a registry of separated children with a view to reuniting them with surviving family members. A team of social workers will monitor their welfare after the children leave the centre.

On her final day, Tetsuko visited Lamkawe, where water purifiers were distributed to lactating mothers and families with small children.

“Water is a huge problem in these refugee camps. We need it badly,” said Cut Arene, a 55-year old woman. She told Tetsuko that she has lost six children, her husband and two grandchildren in the tsunami. “I wake up in the morning in a tent and wonder how I can gather enough energy to cope. All I can do is keep myself busy, try to get clean water, feed my family and take one day at a time.”

“It’s heartbreaking to hear of so many people having lost so many of their families,” says Tetsuko. “But they are finding the strength to get through the day.”

Tetsuko will share her experiences from her visit to Aceh Province with the Japanese public once she returns to Japan. The media team that followed her throughout the trip will document her visit and present it to the Japanese people.

UNICEF

[clayMaine-iac]

The year
Clay Aiken was appointed U.S. Fund for UNICEF National Ambassador in 2004.

The thought
"Everyone deserves the best start in life, which is what UNICEF is working to provide the world's most vulnerable children. Education is essential to a child's development. I hope that as an Ambassador I can encourage people to join UNICEF's mission to make education a reality for children throughout the world."

The update:

UNICEF reopens schools in tsunami zone
NEW YORK (January 14, 2005) — Children in some of the areas affected by the Indian Ocean tsunamis began returning to school this week even though the disaster destroyed or damaged over one thousand schools and killed thousands of teachers.

In hardest-hit Indonesia, preliminary government estimates of the number of severely damaged or destroyed schools ranged from 765 to 1,151. In Sri Lanka, 51 schools were completely destroyed and an additional 100 were partially damaged. In the Maldives, 44 schools were destroyed or damaged — a huge percentage of the total. The tsunamis' impact on education was more minimal in Thailand, where fewer than 30 schools were damaged and very few destroyed.

“There is no better way of helping children regain some normalcy than to return to school,” said UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy. “A learning environment allows children to be children again; it gives them a friendly space to escape from the nightmare they have endured. When a school opens in a disaster zone, everyone feels a sense of hope, including parents.”

Getting and keeping children in school is essential not only in emergencies, but to ensure a better quality of life for all children. This disaster represents a setback to countries that were making good progress with providing quality basic education for all children. Getting children back to school rapidly will minimize this setback.

While schools officially opened following the seasonal break in India and Thailand this week, the governments of Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia are aiming to reopen schools in the affected areas by January 20, 25 and 26, respectively. (Some schools in Sri Lanka have already opened.)

Near Banda Aceh, two schools supported by UNICEF opened Monday with 408 students. UNICEF staff on the ground said it was the parents themselves who asked that a school be rapidly established. “The opening of these schools is a powerful sign for people that life can begin again,” Bellamy observed.

Across Aceh, UNICEF is shipping in tons of educational materials, including 2,000 school tents, 2,000 "School-in-a-Box" kits (each containing learning supplies for 80 students) and 2,000 recreation kits (each with sports and games for 50 children). These supplies will support the more than 100,000 school children and 4,000 teachers in the affected areas of Aceh.

UNICEF is also assisting the Indonesian government with the recruitment and training of 2,000 new teachers and the emotional recovery of teachers who survived the tsunami. According to authorities in Aceh, 1,592 teachers are dead or missing.

Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, where a few schools reopened on Monday, the destruction of classrooms has affected 71,928 children and 2,673 teachers. In addition, some 240 schools are still being used as temporary shelters for displaced families.

UNICEF is providing Sri Lanka's Ministry of Education with school supplies, text books and teaching aids in support of the goal of getting all children in the affected areas back in a learning environment by January 20. UNICEF has already distributed 500 "School-in-a-Box" kits that will be used by 40,000 children. An additional 3,200 kits are expected in Colombo today or tomorrow and will be dispatched immediately. UNICEF has also enlisted hundreds of community volunteers to clear affected schools of debris and has provided funding for public announcements informing families that children will be allowed to attend school without uniforms and birth certificates.

Bellamy noted that the resumption of schooling does not mean all children will immediately return to school. In India, where schools have opened in all but one of the affected districts, attendance is running as low as 30 percent. In the few schools that have opened in Sri Lanka, attendance is about 50 percent.

“This low attendance is because of the many children who died or were injured during the tsunami and because some parents, having lost so much, are not quite ready to send their children out of their immediate care,” Bellamy said. “These parents need assurance that their children not only will be safe in school, but will have the assistance they need to grow stronger. Our work is focused on trying to create the most positive environment to get kids back in school.”

India, Thailand and the Maldives
In India, where national and local authorities have led a strong and swift relief effort, UNICEF is playing a supporting role, including the delivery of school supplies and sports equipment, the rebuilding of libraries, organizing play activities for children and training teachers to recognize the signs of distress and provide basic emotional counseling.

In Thailand, where most schools reopened on January 4, UNICEF is supplying children from the affected coastal provinces with cooking utensils, school materials, textbooks, uniforms, playground and sports equipment, and is also supporting the construction of temporary schools.

In the Maldives, UNICEF is assisting the government in the construction of 73 temporary classrooms to ensure students will be able to go back to school on January 25. UNICEF is assisting the Maldives government with cleaning school premises and ensuring adequate sanitation facilities. UNICEF has also supplied more than 150 "School-in-a-Box" and recreation kits and distributed hundreds of boxes of crayons, clay, drawing paper, building blocks, puzzles, dolls, toy cars and balls.

“The more that schools can provide for children's needs — for food, uniforms, text books and psychological support — the more we can relieve the burden on families and allow them to focus on rebuilding their lives,” Bellamy said. “Schools are often the heart of a community, so this effort to get them up and running has real impact on the long-term recovery effort. For many people who are hurting, a busy schoolyard is the best medicine.”

Note to broadcasters:
B-roll is available on UNICEF's tsunami relief efforts — including education, packing of school kits and David Beckham — at http://www.thenewsmarket.com/unicef/.

About UNICEF
Founded in 1946, UNICEF helps save, protect and improve the lives of children around the world through immunization, education, health care, nutrition, clean water, and sanitation. UNICEF is non-partisan and its cooperation is free of discrimination. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority.

UNICEF

[Pamela]

Tuesday March 1, 6:18 PM

Aussie rugby legend Farr-Jones visits Aceh

Australian rugby legend Nick Farr-Jones arrived in tsunami-wracked Aceh for a four-day visit Tuesday, the first of many sporting stars due to make appearances this week to help fund relief efforts.

Farr-Jones, who captained the Wallabies to the 1991 World Cup, is here as an ambassador for the World Food Program, the U.N. body said in a statement.

"It's barely two months since the disaster struck in places like Banda Aceh and already you can see that interest is fading," said Farr-Jones, according to WFP statement. "Just because this story has disappeared from television screens, it doesn't mean that the problem has gone away. In reality, it won't take weeks or even months, but years for many of these communities to recover."

Also Tuesday, a host of former soccer greats, including Brazilian striker Careca and Dutchman Richard Witschge, will play are a charity match in Jakarta against a group of Asian all-stars. They are scheduled to make appearances at refugee camps in Banda Aceh Wednesday, organizers said.

In the past few weeks, Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens before his conversion to the Muslim faith, visited Aceh.

UNICEF spokeswoman Lely Djuhari said former American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken will visit Aceh in mid-March as one of the group's ambassadors.  

Aceh was the area hardest hit by the Dec. 26 quake and the tsunami that ensued. Over 124,000 people died while 113,000 more are missing, and presumed dead.

YAHOO ASIA NEWS

More about Aceh:
BBC - CLINTON AND BUSH SEE ACEH DAMAGE

[Pamela]

Friends, there are going to be some things posted on the forums about Aceh Banda in Indonesia that while true, are not a full representation of the true situation in the area.  

While it's true that the area has recently been under martial law, there are concerted efforts underway to bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict there.  They are currently governing under a ceasefire and peace talks are underway.

Remember that there is no way UNICEF would put one of their carefully
chosen ambassadors in harms way. I know that anything can happen, but that's true of driving down the street in LA or in Raleigh.

There are some sensitive areas in that region and lots of turmoil and conflict.  But, I dont' want all the *bad news* about the situation there to  overshadow the *good news* about what Clay is doing.

I think Clay would want us to focus on that. Sending prayers and being positive will get us all through this much easier than focusing on the scary parts. That's what I'm going to encourage here anyway.  If you are upset, by all means, you can talk about it here.

Remember that Clay has a very strong base of faith and that he is a strong person.  He will see devastating things that most of us will never see, much less imagine.  I have no doubt that he will achieve his purpose, that he will learn and grow from the experience and that he will make a difference.
 
Here are a couple of articles that give some information about what's been happening in Aceh Banda Indonesia.

XINHUANET

ALERTNET

[HavinaClayAffair]

UNICEF spokeswoman Lely Djuhari said former American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken will visit Aceh in mid-March as one of the group's ambassadors.

This one sentence had my heart bursting with pride, racing with fear, aching with worry, and beating full of love - all at once.

I am worried and fearful for him, yet despite that, I am proud that he is going and love him for it all the more.

Lora

[Pamela]

Well said Lora, well said.  I think we all feel the same way.

[GWENN]

I MUST ADMIT THAT I WAS NOT AWARE OF THE DANGER IN THAT AREA.  I KNEW OF THE TURMOIL AND LOSS.  ALL WE CAN DO IS TRUST IN UNICEF AND PRAY FOR CLAY.  HE IS GOING TO GO.  THAT IS WHO HE IS.  WE LOVE HIM FOR THAT.  HE HAS TO COME HOME SAFE AND SOUND TO US.  HE WILL BE A CHANGED MAN.  YOU CANNOT HELP BUT BE CHANGED BY DEVASTATION AND SORROW.

GWENN

[lovinclay]

I'M VERY PROUD OF CLAY!  I PRAY THAT GOD WILL PROTECT HIM, KEEP HIM HEALTHY AND STRONG, AND BRING HIM BACK SAFELY TO US!

[Franny]

Reading all of this brings a lump to my throat, he didn't have to do this but he is who he is and where he wants to be. This is the fabric of his life, a giving person who radiates goodness. God will protect him from danger and Clay will make an amazing difference just by being the loving person that he is. All of our prayers will help Clay as he continues towards his  new journey. Godspeed.

[ClayObsessed]

The fact that Clay is going to a place like this in order to help the children
is noble enough, all by itself.  But just think of the strong urge he must
have to not go because of his fear of water.    To go to a place that was
so devastated by water and know it could happen again with any
aftershock.  Now that is courageous and indeed noble.  
Clay is the measure of all men.

shirl

[Pamela]

ECHO and UNICEF working together to improve hygiene following tsunami

ECHO and UNICEF distribute hygiene kits to families across Indonesia’s Aceh province.

ACEH, Indonesia, 25 February 2005 – Hundreds of thousands of Indonesia’s tsunami survivors are still living in temporary shelters, making the risk of an outbreak of waterborne diseases a major concern. Many camps lie in low-lying areas prone to flooding, and some need urgent help in maintaining a supply of clean water. To help the survivors cope, UNICEF and the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office, or ECHO, have joined forces to improve sanitation and water facilities across Aceh province.

“Simple interventions can actually save a lot of lives and this is something that UNICEF is concentrating on in this particular situation,” says Peter Holdsworth, ECHO’s rapid response coordinator in Indonesia.

ECHO is funding the distribution of tens of thousands of hygiene kits, which include basic washing necessities such as soap, a towel, a sarong and a toothbrush and toothpaste. ECHO and UNICEF are also supporting efforts to provide drinking water and waste treatment equipment.

Saifuddin and his family, survivors of the tsunami, are among the people benefitting from the ECHO and UNICEF’ partnership. He, his wife and two children share a tent with another family of six on the outskirts of Banda Aceh. The limited space doesn’t bother Saifuddin, but a dearth of washing facilities does. The camp has only a few taps which are often crowded, especially just before prayer times, when people clean up before entering the mosque.

Read the rest at ©UNICEF

[Pamela]

Back to school in Banda Aceh
 
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, 26 January 2005 - It is quarter to eight in the morning at SDN 3 Primary School in central Banda Aceh. A young girl, dressed in her school uniform of a long red skirt and crisp white shirt, slips off the front of her dad’s motorbike and walks through the entrance. Another mother arrives holding the hand of her young daughter, who is dressed in a blue tracksuit. Her uniform was lost along with the rest of their household belongings, but she is anxious to begin school. The trickle continues until about fifty or so children are gathered. It is their first day of school exactly one month after the tsunami hit.

The classrooms of their school had been used as a relief camp for displaced people. Just the day before, after the people left, a large yellow truck loaded with workers arrived to clean and sweep the grounds before the first day of school.

Then a UNICEF truck arrived bearing school supplies. Every school still functioning in the city of Banda Aceh will receive four school-in-a-box kits to service 80 children each and two recreational kits for sports and play activities. The schools of approximately 177,000 children have been destroyed.

UNICEF has mobilized a massive logistical network to get supplies to schools across Aceh. By boat, truck and air – and sometimes by hand -- UNICEF is shipping enough school-in-a-boxes for 560,000 children.

The supplies are the start of a back-to-learning campaign UNICEF will work on with the Ministry of Education and other partners to help get every child back into learning in a safe environment.

“UNICEF has welcomed the Government of Indonesia’s decision to reopen schools,” said UNICEF Representative for Indonesia Gianfranco Rotigliano before the reopening. “This is a very important step towards the recovery of children and their communities.”

Although no one doubts that the challenges are immense, experience has demonstrated that getting children back into a safe learning environment is an important part of the healing process.

“From our global experience, we know that it’s the best way to recover from natural disasters and tragedies: wars, tsunamis, earthquakes. It’s a way for children to get back to their routine, to normalcy,” says Sarah Lendon, UNICEF Indonesia’s Emergency Education Coordinator.

Twelve-year old Miranda Rizakya’s school was destroyed but she has enrolled in the neighboring school SN 28.  Although flood-damaged and still littered with some debris, the school is preparing for the first day of class.

“I am very happy to be going back to school”, Miranda says with a smile, her head covered in a traditional white head scarf. She still does not know about the whereabouts of her two best friends.

Read the rest at ©UNICEF

[Pamela]

In Banda Aceh, hum of normalcy

The clean-up effort has gone better than expected, bringing new optimism to the stricken population.

By Simon Montlake|Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

BANDA ACEH AND LAMNO, INDONESIA – The hum of normal life is returning to Banda Aceh. In stores and cafes, chain- smoking men swap rumors of lucrative contracts for new homes and roads. At night, teenagers weave through honking traffic on noisy motorbikes, drowning out the muezzin's call from the city's numerous mosques.

It's a far cry from the initial scenes of devastation wrought by the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck on Dec. 26, mobilizing the largest-ever charity response to a humanitarian crisis. Here in Aceh, the hardest-hit region, some 235,000 people are presumed dead.

Bodies are still being recovered from the rubble, but aid workers say the clean-up has gone better than many had expected, filling the stricken population with new energy and optimism, and encouraging many who fled to return.

"The fact that the streets were full of corpses [before] had a huge impact on people. It was a reminder of everything that had happened to them. It's very important that society can pick up and go forward," says Jesper Lund, a relief coordinator for the United Nations. "Banda Aceh is alive today because people have the will to move on."

One of them is Nurhayati, a shop owner and mother of eight who lost her elderly parents and sister to the giant wave. She has recently reopened her furniture store, one of two buildings still standing on the block. She boldly advertises new stock for sale. For the hard-up - of which there are still many - she offers sodden half-price mattresses that her sons have dragged outside to dry.

"I've got to work, it lifts my spirits. But then I look outside and it's so empty, everything has gone," she says.

Most of the US and other foreign troops deployed to assist relief opera- tions have left, signaling that the initial crisis is over. Japan is due to pull out its contingent of 1,000 soldiers on Mar. 10, followed by Australia and New Zealand.

Sensitive to nationalist opinion and its long-running battle with armed separatists in Aceh, the Indonesian government has told foreign troops to leave by Mar. 26. Last week it held a second round of talks with rebel leaders, who hinted at a possible compromise in their demand for independence and agreed to further talks in April.

Read the rest at CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

[HavinaClayAffair]

From the UNICEF site regarding what is already being done in ACEH:

UNICEF

How UNICEF is helping
Indonesia
 
© UNICEF Indonesia/2005/Susanto

Elementary school students in Banda Aceh eagerly receive UNICEF supplied school-in-the-box and recreational kits on their first day at school since the tsunami hit.
22 February 2005

Key Figures

121,911 people have died. 113,937 people are missing.

399,959 people have been displaced. (Government data as of February 22)

919 children are being cared for by extended family. Their parents are being traced. These children are referred to as “separated” children.

70 children are being cared for in temporary residential care while efforts at tracing parents or extended family members continues. These children are referred to as “unaccompanied”. (Data based on inter-agency registration of displaced children, as of February 22. This is only from a small part of the affected population.)

Latest Updates

Schools reopened on January 26, the day after UNICEF’s “Back-to-Learning” campaign was launched with the distribution of school-in-a-box and recreation kits for 20,000 children in Banda Aceh.
Key UNICEF Actions

Working closely with government and partners, UNICEF has:

Health and Nutrition

Vaccinated over 127,000 children against measles, as part of an ongoing immunization campaign for all children 6 months – 15 years in the entire Aceh province and affected areas in North Sumatra. Children are also being given doses of Vitamin A to boost their immune systems.  

Established five supplementary feeding centers to help combat malnutrition among young children and pregnant women.

Provided essential micronutrients including iron supplementation for pregnant women, zinc supplementation for children, and oral rehydration treatment for children suffering from diarrhoea.

Provided basic drugs and supplies for health facilities to cover 1.2 million people including 600,000 children under the age of five.

Child Protection

Established twenty centers in camps throughout Aceh to register and trace separated and unaccompanied children.
Conducted training programs for the Indonesian military and police on child protection issues and gender violence.

Education

Provided basic school supplies and learning material for the resumption of classes.
Recruited and trained 2,000 new teachers.

Water and Sanitation

Built emergency latrines and provided basic sanitation kits for children and their families living in temporary camps.  
Provided temporary water supplies, potable water, water storage tanks, family water kits, water pumps and water quality testing kits. UNICEF has also rehabilitated and chlorinated water supply systems.  
Conducted hygiene education campaigns in schools and camps.  
Carried out a “Clean Start” programme that ensured schools were safe and clean for the start of classes.

Key UNICEF supplies procured offshore

Cooking sets for families to use during emergencies. UNICEF has shipped 4,200 cooking sets to Indonesia. Each set contains cooking pots, bowls and cups.

Mosquito nets to prevent children and their families from contracting malaria. UNICEF has shipped 20,000 long lasting mosquito nets to Indonesia. A long lasting net is a ready-to-use net pre-treated with insecticide, requiring no further treatment during its expected life span.

Oral rehydration salts (ORS) to replace lost fluids and salt in cases of acute diarrhoea. 1.2 million ORS sachets have been shipped to Indonesia.
 
Tarpaulin rolls (4x50m) and sheets (4x5m) to provide basic shelter and protection for up to 42,840 families.

School-in-a-box kits containing basic school supplies for 238,400 children.

Emergency health kits for 100,000 people for 3 months. Emergency health kits are designed to help meet the initial primary health care needs of displaced populations who are without medical facilities. Each kit contains drugs, medical supplies, and basic medical equipment.

Recreation kits for 21,600 children. Each kit contains balls for several types of games, frisbees, skipping ropes, coloured tunics for different teams, chalk and a measuring tape for marking play areas and a whistle and scoring slate.

Lora

[Pamela]

RELIEFWEB: INDONESIA - ESSENTIAL RELIEF REACHES ISOLATED VILLAGES IN ACEH

DR MONA REPORTS FROM BANDA ACEH

[Pamela]

Posted by tanuki at the Clackhouse.

I know someone who went to Banda Aceh as part of the tsunami relief effort and is now back home. I just wanted to share some of his impressions of what it is like to go over there to help out. As he was telling his story I was thinking this is probably what it will be like for Clay.

If you go to Sri Lanka most of the people speak English, but if you go to Banda Aceh or the other countries you have to rely on interpreters. It seems that in some parts of the towns the mansions of the rich people survived and these are rented to the relief organizations and that's where you stay. The rich just got out of town and went somewhere else until things went back to normal. Which makes sense, the wooden huts of the poor were swept away but the well constructed homes may have fared better.

Most of what you do is listen to the people there who need to talk about what happened. They are still processing their grief. They are in the talking phase. So everyone you meet will tell you their story. You help them by listening.

There is no one who hasn't lost some family member, many of them are the only survivor. The death toll may be over 200,000 at this point - the government has just stopped counting at 160,000.

The biggest damage was not the first wave but the second wave. After the first wave hit, the water receded way back because the second wave was coming, but no one knew what to expect. So the ones who survived went to the shore to try to rescue people who were carried off by the first wave. Then the second wave slammed into shore and got them too. The second wave had debris in it which made it even more deadly. It goes on for miles to the end of where the eye can see - like those pictures from world war two where the atom bomb went off.

They would meet with the village council thinking they were going to talk about what they needed to do to rebuild: where do you want us to help you put in water pipes or the sewer and what they would hear was "can you help me find my sister?"

So it's mostly still mostly listening and delivering some food and basics for survival.

[Pamela]

American Actor Cary Elwes, center, looks over drawings done by Acehnese refugee children during his visit to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Saturday, March 5, 2005. Elwes, a UNICEF ambassador, visited the tsunami-shattered province to lend support for relief efforts. (AP Photo/ Binsar Bakkara)

Cary Elwes was in the film The Princess Bride.

YAHOO NEWS PICTURE

[Pamela]

Aid workers in Aceh braced for expulsion as Indonesia gets tough
SIMON MONTLAKE
IN BANDA ACEH

FOREIGN aid workers in the tsunami-stricken province of Aceh have been threatened with expulsion by Indonesian police once the emergency phase of relief operations is over. The government has set a deadline of March 26 for the withdrawal of foreign troops, but until now has insisted that foreign aid groups are welcome in Aceh.

British and American troops and other foreign forces that were deployed to deliver aid and vital emergency services have already left Aceh. Only a few detachments of foreign soldiers remain, and Japan’s contingent is due to pull out this week.

Read the rest at SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

[Pamela]

ANTARA (INDONESIAN NEWS SERVICE) news article about Clay's trip to Banda Aceh.