Poor co-operation hampers tsunami humanitarian aid

By David Cronin

Date: 03/02/05

Poor co-operation between aid agencies is hampering the humanitarian efforts in Aceh, the region most affected by the Asian tsunami, the European Commission's Humanitarian Office (ECHO) has found.

Even though the Indonesian province has been under martial law and conflict-riven for the past 15 years, ECHO found that the security situation is not the major impediment to an effective distribution of aid for tsunami victims there.

A bigger worry is the "massive lack of co-ordination" between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that rushed to Aceh following the 26 December disaster.

In a bid to improve the situation, the Commission this week announced a donation of €15 million to the UN's Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme. The money is to be used for logistical support with the delivery of supplies to those in need.

A spokeswoman for OCHA explained that the response in Aceh had been hampered by the large number of small charities, many of whom did not have the same experience or skills as more established players like Oxfam or the International Red Cross. "Every day, we are getting a better co-ordination, even with small NGOs, which sometimes are more of a burden to us," she said. "They are full of goodwill but lack professionalism. Some come from a religious persuasion and are interested in proselytising, instead of helping."

The United Nations has declared the emergency phase of the relief operation over and it believes that civilians should take over from the military in facilitating the longer-term aid efforts. But a smooth transition is impossible as half of Aceh's police-force is estimated to have been wiped out as part of the 230,000 killed or missing and presumed dead.

The European Commission will put forward a proposal in the coming months on how €350 million development aid for the countries affected by the tsunami should be spent. Both the Commission and Javier Solana, the Union's foreign affairs chief, have also been asked to prepare a plan for an EU rapid response capability to disasters for the next meeting of EU foreign ministers (21-22 February).

According to the European Commission's Humanitarian Office (ECHO) poor co-operation between aid agencies is hampering the humanitarian efforts in Aceh, the region most affected by the Asian tsunami. Even though the Indonesian province has been under martial law and conflict-riven for the previous 15 years, ECHO has found that the security situation is not the major impediment to an effective distribution of aid for tsunami victims there. A bigger worry is the 'massive lack of co-ordination' between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that rushed to Aceh following the disaster on 26 December 2004.

European Commission: Press release: IP/05/116 http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/116&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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