Wolfowitz ends visit; Indonesia raises toll
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz yesterday wrapped up a visit to Indonesia, where officials along the obliterated Sumatran coast reported finding 5,000 more bodies, raising the death toll in one of the world's worst natural disasters to more than 162,000.
Also, the US military plans to wind down its presence in Thailand and Sri Lanka over the next two weeks, according to Marine Lieutenant General Robert Blackman, who is in charge of coordinating American relief efforts in South Asia.
Jakarta, meanwhile, backed away from an earlier call for foreign troops delivering relief to be out of the country by March 26, three months to the day after the earthquake and tsunami hit 11 nations.
''We would like to emphasize that March 26 is not a deadline for involvement of foreign military personnel in the relief effort," Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said after meeting Wolfowitz in Jakarta.
US forces continue efforts in Indonesia to deliver supplies in affected areas. Indonesia ''is clearly the most challenging" of the three countries, Blackman said. ''You can't minimize 130,000 deaths on the island of Sumatra."
Wolfowitz praised US troops for their efforts to aid survivors and hinted that the American operation could mean closer military ties with Indonesia.
''We need to think about how we can strengthen this newly elected democratic government, strengthen the civilian defense minister . . . to help build the kind of defense institution that will ensure in the future that the Indonesian military, like our military, is a loyal function of a democratic government," said Wolfowitz, a former ambassador to Jakarta.
Meanwhile, Australia and New Zealand -- both of which lost vacationing citizens on the southern beaches of Thailand -- observed a minute of silence at the precise time of the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that triggered the tsunami. Bells tolled and flags flew at half-staff.
''Three weeks ago, the world began to watch in horror as a catastrophe without precedent in recent times unfolded around the Indian Ocean," said Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand.
Indonesia's Social Affairs Ministry said 12,132 people remain missing as bodies continued to be pulled from the wreckage of ravaged coastal settlements. It said 603,518 residents were displaced, about 100,000 fewer than the figure three days ago.
Many survivors, still stunned by the catastrophe, were giving up hope of finding missing family members.
After three weeks of scouring the muddy wastelands where his village in Sumatra once stood, Yusuf Abu said he does not believe he will ever again see any of the 67 missing from his family.
''I've walked and walked in search of them and gone through mass graves, but the bodies were no longer identifiable," the 64-year-old fishmonger said. ''I feel so tired, and now my legs are weak."
The leaders of Sweden, Norway, and Finland arrived in Bangkok yesterday to thank Thailand and its people for helping care for thousands of Nordic tourists who were caught up in the turmoil.
The heads of state planned during their two-day visit to meet with Thai and international forensic investigators, local police, and others trying to determine the fate of more than 2,000 missing Swedes, Norwegians, and Finns. They also plan to travel to the southern resorts of Khao Lak and Phuket, where many people died in the disaster.
