U.N. says it has no plans to boost security in tsunami-battered Aceh

  • 12/15/2022
  • 22:26
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Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Feb 25, SPA -- The United Nations saidFriday it had no plans to increase security in tsunami-battered Aceh. Meanwhile, many donor nations have yet to follow throughwith their tsunami relief pledges, a U.N. spokesman said,as one agency warned that the number of people needing foodaid in the province was expected to double to nearly800,000 in coming months. The United Nations, which is coordinating relief effortsin Aceh, currently operates out of an open compound next toone of the provincial capital's main hospitals. It has announced plans to move to a more secure locationat a local university, but Hiro Ueki, a spokesman for theU.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,said Friday "for the time being" security measures were"adequate." Indonesia's country director for the World Food Program,Mohamed Saleheen said the number of people the agency wasfeeding in Aceh could rise to as many as 790,000 people inthe coming months. It is currently feeding some 350,000people. While the WFP and the U.N. Children's Fund are fullyfunded, the Office for the U.N. High Commissioner forRefugees and the United Nations Development Program _ bothcrucial to rehabilitation and reconstruction in the 11tsunami-ravaged countries _ have received 65 percent and 54percent respectively of their emergency relief needs forthe next six months, Ueki said. "There's still a very large amount of pledges yet to bepaid," he said. "So far, there has been no direct impact(on operations), but we hope they will be fully funded." U.N. data received by The Associated Press showed that theUNHCR requires US$75.8 million (¤57.4 million) while theUNDP needs US$157 million (¤119 million). U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Hafiz Pasha admittedAceh's recovery would be "slow and gradual." "Retraining and reemployment. That's basically what we'llbe doing over the next many months," said Pasha, who isalso the UNDP's assistant director. He was in Banda Aceh tooversee the United Nations' reconstruction andrehabilitation projects in Aceh.--SPA1426 Local Time 1126 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/242229

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