ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN INDONESIA, INCLUDING STOPOVER IN GERMANY, 4 - 7 JANUARY
During a stopover in Frankfurt, Germany, en route to Jakarta, Indonesia, the Secretary-General was asked by CNN what was going “right” in the massive relief effort under way to assist the victims of the 26 December earthquake and resulting tsunami, or tidal wave, that affected countries from Indonesia to Somalia.
“There was clear leadership at the beginning”, he replied, “and everyone accepted the UN’s leadership”. He praised the generous response by governments, private groups and the general public as “marvellous”.
Asked why he was making this visit to the affected region, he said he would sit with leaders to look at how to reconstruct, “and give people back their livelihood and let them continue their lives in dignity”.
In response to a question about his message, the Secretary-General said, “I hope that the message that we’re sending is that the international community is with you. You’re not alone”.
On his arrival in Jakarta, he was met by Indonesian Minister of Defence Juwono Sudarsono, with whom he had the opportunity to discuss the relief effort in the Indonesian province of Aceh, one of the hardest hit by the tsunami.
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General had an internal planning meeting with United Nations Development Programme Administrator Mark Malloch Brown and United Nations Deputy Emergency Coordinator Margareta Wahlström, who was coordinating the United Nations’ relief efforts in South Asia over the previous week.
He then met with over 300 assembled United Nations staff in the country, who he addressed as his “Indonesian family”. He offered his condolences for the enormous losses that Indonesia suffered in the natural disaster and thanked them for receiving him “at this exceptionally demanding time” when they were working so hard to deal with the aftermath of the crisis.
He took questions from them on topics such as staff security, United Nations reform, coordination of the aid effort in the region, psychological counselling for the victims of the disaster, and the merits of using military assets for disaster relief. He then mingled with them, shaking hands and chatting with individuals.
After that, he returned to his hotel room to confer with heads of United Nations agencies, funds and programmes involved in the relief effort, including James Morris of the World Food Program and Kim Hak-Su of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), on progress in coordinating relief operations in South Asia.
On 6 January, the Secretary-General attended the Special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on the Aftermath of the Earthquake and Tsunami, and used the occasion to launch a flash appeal for the victims of the natural disaster.
“We have started the new year with a singular chance to prove our humanity”, he said. “As we grieve for the dead and pray for those still searching for loved ones, we have a duty to the survivors.”
He called for a generous response to stop the tsunami from being followed by a second wave of death from preventable causes, and a third wave of despair where people cannot recover their livelihoods, homes and communities.
He asked for $977 million to meet the humanitarian emergency needs of some 4 million people. “Together, we will restore strength and faith”, he concluded. “Together, we will rebuild. Together we will recover.” (See Press Release SG/SM/9666.)
At a press conference at midday, the Secretary-General urged the international community to “stay with us for the longer term”.
In response to a question, he commented that “for the moment the world has come together” and “we are going to really make a difference here”. On the subject of the need for an early warning system for South Asia, he said he would encourage that and pledged to work for its establishment.
Asked about pledges of support that are never honoured, he replied that the United Nations was going to be vigilant and urged governments to transform their pledges into cash as quickly as possible.
A journalist asked if the United Nations had taken over from the four-nation core group that pledged military assets to the relief effort. The Secretary-General responded, clarifying that what he said was a misunderstanding and that without those military assets, “it would have been extremely difficult for us to get to those in need”. And how long would those military forces stay in the region? he was asked. “I think they would stay as long as the logistical requirements are there”, he replied, adding that he thought it would be weeks or months, not years.
Following the press conference, the Secretary-General attended a luncheon for the participants in the meeting, hosted by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
In the margins of the meeting, the Secretary-General held bilateral discussions with leaders of 10 countries. Recurrent themes in these meetings were the coordination efforts for the tsunami victims, elections in Iraq and United Nations reform. Those he met with were, in order, the Prime Minister of Japan, the Foreign Minister of Thailand, the Prime Minister of China, the Prime Minister of Singapore, the Foreign Minister of India, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the Secretary of State of the United States, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, the Prime Minister of New Zealand and the President of Indonesia.
On Friday, 7 January, the Secretary-General, accompanied by his wife Nane, flew from Jakarta to Banda Aceh, the capital of AcehProvince, to view first-hand the effects of the earthquake and tsunami in the region.
From Banda Aceh, he travelled by helicopter down the west coast for an hour, viewing from the air the impact of the tsunami on the coastline. The giant wave destroyed virtually everything for hundreds of metres inland. The rectangular shapes in the mud indicated where houses once stood. Most trees were destroyed, with those left standing slowly being choked by salt water. Here and there, a building made of concrete remained standing, but those of wood were obliterated. Whole communities had disappeared.
He touched down at the district capital of Meulaboh, a fishing town of about 90,000 which, after Banda Aceh, was the second largest town in the affected area. He received a military briefing at the airport, about clean-up operations, restoration of electricity and potable water and the rebuilding of schools. The commander said that he did not have enough tents for the tens of thousands of people displaced by the disaster and he hoped for psychological counsellors to deal with the people’s post-traumatic stress.
They then drove through the town, stopping at a modern building that was the district headquarters. Hundreds of displaced people were living on the floors inside, and thousands came there daily to receive aid. The Secretary-General and his wife walked through the complex, stopping frequently to chat with the displaced victims of the tsunami there, or just to offer a smile or shake a hand.
They continued the tour of the town, which sustained substantial damage, first from the earthquake and then from a triple tsunami. Frogmen were seen searching for bodies offshore. The estimated death toll is in the tens of thousands. Of a district population of 195,000, some 55,000 were displaced.
Fishing boats, washed in from the sea, lay overturned in the streets. Buildings had collapsed, or been damaged by the rush of water. People were piling their destroyed belongings in front of their houses and were scraping mud from the floors.
On a pink wall of a shell of a house was written a graffito: “Tragedy 12-26-04”.
Returning to Banda Aceh, the Secretary-General spoke to the press. With him were World Bank President James Wolfensohn, IMF Managing Director Rodrigo de Rato and Asian Development Bank President Tadeo Chino, all of whom had done the tour with him.
In his opening comments, the Secretary-General said: “I have never seen such utter destruction, mile after mile. And you wonder, where are the people? What happened to them?”
But in Meulaboh, he said, he saw people “beginning to pick up the pieces and get on with their lives”, adding, “but they are going to need lots of help”.
A reporter then asked him if he was satisfied there was sufficient coordination between the United States-led effort and that of others. “I think we are all in this together”, the Secretary-General replied. “On the whole, the cooperation is going well.”
Asked how he answered criticism that the United Nations was tardy with relief efforts, the Secretary-General replied that such criticism was unfair. “We are as capable as Members help and allow us to be”, he said.
He then flew to Colombo, Sri Lanka, to view another country devastated by the disaster.