Terror alert for NZ aid workers

Captain Georgina Parata-Turvey (right), has been a nurse at the ANZAC Field Hospital at Banda Aceh. Other NZ aid workers in the area are being warned of a possible terrorist attack.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has indicated that New Zealand is close to pulling its troops from Aceh after a warning that terror attacks could be made against foreigners helping tsunami relief efforts.

She discussed the possible threat to New Zealand aid workers and troops helping in the devastated northern Sumatra region with Australian Prime Minister John Howard in Auckland yesterday.

New Zealand has joined Australia in urging aid workers and other foreign nationals to get out of Indonesia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said terrorists could be planning strikes against foreign aid workers in Banda Aceh and other parts of Sumatra.

It says people planning to travel to Indonesia to help clear up after December's tsunami should do so only if their aid organisation has a "robust" security plan, approved by the Indonesian authorities.

"We recommend that New Zealanders not covered by such arrangements, or more generally concerned for their security, leave the area immediately."

At least four New Zealand aid workers are in the area.

Mr Howard said the Australian travel warning was in response to a "threat of a general kind".

"It is immensely distressing that at a time like this, people should be threatening violence and terrorism," he said in Auckland.

"It is a reminder of who we are dealing with - they are beyond the pale in every sense of the word."

He said Australian military personnel in Aceh would begin withdrawing soon as the emergency period was ending.

"It's not the role of the military to provide emergency aid, except for a limited period."

Helen Clark said the Anzac medical teams had done a "fantastic job".

But she said New Zealand would reduce its military contribution as the need for immediate relief passed.

"We're not too far off that point."

The second party of New Zealand troops to Indonesia - a 60-person contingent made up of a light medical team and Air Force air crew - left early this month.

The group is expected to be in the region for 60 days.

Aceh was under martial law until the December 26 tsunami.

A ban on foreign workers was then lifted to allow relief work.

Ministry spokesman Brad Tattersfield said it did not know how many New Zealand relief workers were in Banda Aceh province, as relief agencies did not have to give it this information.

In New Zealand, Red Cross operations manager Andrew McKie said two New Zealanders were working in a hospital in Banda Aceh.

A third was en route to Indonesia to work in logistical support.

The Red Cross had "very stringent" security plans, he said.

World Vision New Zealand executive director Helen Green said that Aaron Ward, a veteran of relief efforts in Bosnia, was working as a clown in the relief camps.
World Vision had been aware of the potential dangers and had tried to keep the number of foreigners in Indonesia to a minimum, she said.

It had also formed alliances with Islamic aid agencies to reduce the chance of attack.

Travel warning

* New Zealanders should defer non-essential travel to anywhere in Indonesia, including Bali, Batam and Bintan.

* Those in the country should leave immediately if they feel their security is threatened.