The provincial government of the tsunami-hit Aceh province on Thursday said that it expects that the foreign troops and volunteers remain in the province by the time their projects were completed, although Jakarta had recommended the foreign personnel to leave the province no later than March 26, Aceh provincial vice governor said.
According to Vice Governor Azwar Abu Bakar, the length of presence of the foreign military and volunteers would depend on the sector that they help.
"If they want to help food provision, one or two months are enough, but if they want to build bridge, two years is okey," Bakar told reporters.
"There are some (humanitarian operations) sufficient (with the time limit) but some are not."
Earlier Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked foreign troops, who were carrying out their humanitarian operation in the restive province of Aceh to leave the province no later than March 26 and the call was followed by the Indonesian Minister of Information and Communication Sofyan Jalil, who asked foreign volunteers to exit from the province no more that the time.
Last week, president Susilo warned a number of foreign countries not to intervene the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) issue in the westernmost and rich-oil province of this country.
The GAM has been struggling to establish an independent state since 1976, during which thousands people were killed in conflicts with the government troops.
(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2005)
