Indonesia Doubts Ceasefire Calls in Support of Tsunami Relief

While foreign aid agencies and troops are all rushing into the tsunami affected countries in South East Asia, rebels in the countries have expressed their willingness to put down their weapons and unite with the rest of the world to carry out life saving missions.

In the worst hit area of Indonesia, Aceh province, the rebel Free Aceh Movement (Gam) reaffirmed its commitment to the ceasefire shortly after the tsunami on the Boxing Day. They claimed that they wanted to do all they could to minimise the suffering of the Acehnese people caught in the tsunami, and the deal is unconditional and will last for an indefinite period.

The Indonesian government, however, is still considering the threat of the rebels. The government imposed special security measures on Wednesday that foreign aid workers and journalists must now log their travel plans, and will be given a military escort for journeys outside the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

The government said that these measures are designed to protect the foreign aid workers against violence of rebels. The separatists are alleged to be related to kidnappings and shooting of aid workers, even though they have denied this.

The Indonesian government has even asked the foreign troops for tsunami relief to leave before March and Indonesian military will send thousands more soldiers into Aceh.

A UN spokesman told BBC that relief teams had not experienced any security incidents, and they were concerned the new regulations could create potential bottlenecks in aid deliveries.