15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 14: The United Nations has sought clarification from Indonesia that new security restrictions would not hamper its operations in the most ravaged of all the tsunami affected countries.

Indonesia said earlier this week that it would only allow relief operations in certain areas beyond Banda Aceh under its troops supervision.

UN Relief Coordinator Kevin Kennedy warned that restrictions imposed by the Indonesian authorities, such as the need to seek permission to move outside the Banda Aceh and Meulaboh areas and to be accompanied by military escort on the western side of Sumatra, must not hamper relief in the region that claimed more than two-thirds of the 160,000 deaths reported so far.

Following a meeting with the Indonesian authorities in Banda Aceh, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Margareta Wahlstrom said: "We certainly well understand that there has been a conflict in Aceh for the last quarter of a century.

However we are concerned that any requirements that would create any additional bottlenecks or delays or otherwise adversely affect our operations need to be viewed very carefully.

"The UN does have a policy on military escorts, which is we will accept them, but that would be an exception as opposed to normal policy," he stated noting that the world body had used them for years in Burundi, and without them would not have been able to deliver assistance due to security situation.