Reports of fighting slow tsunami aid effort in Aceh

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia – Security fears threatened again to hamper tsunami relief efforts Monday, with U.N. officials banning aid workers from traveling in parts of devastated Aceh province following reports that fighting had broken out between Indonesian government forces and insurgents.

The travel ban came after Denmark also warned its aid workers to beware of an imminent terror attack – a warning that prompted U.N. officials to launch an investigation and declare a state of “heightened awareness” in Aceh, where separatists have been fighting for an independent state for decades.

Insisting that aid workers have nothing to fear, rebel leader Tengku Mucksalmina dismissed Indonesian government claims that insurgents might attack relief convoys in hopes of stealing food for their fighters.

“Our mothers, our wives, our children are victims of this tragedy. We would never ambush any convoy with aid for them,” Mucksalmina said from his jungle hideout.

The travel ban, which will be reviewed today, came “strictly because of the fighting going on down there,” said Mans Nyberg, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.