Relief officials worried at disease outbreaks

Children play in a pond at a refugee camp near Indonesian military airport (behind) in Banda Aceh yesterday. The killer tidal wave so far claimed more than 110,000 lives in the western Indonesian region of Aceh and left tens of thousands dependant on relief. The United Nations said it would provide emergency tents to house 100,000 tsunami survivors in Indonesia's Aceh province for six months while their homes are rebuilt. PHOTO: AFP

US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said on a tour of the region his country's goal was to alleviate suffering caused by the quake and tsunamis.

But the US military was eager to begin a transitional phase that could see much of its work being handed over to governments, other militaries, non-governmental organisations and aid agencies, Wolfowitz said.

"We'd like to be out of this business as soon as we responsibly can," Wolfowitz said in Thailand before he traveled to Indonesia's Aceh province.

"The US military has a lot of other work to do," Wolfowitz said. "As soon as our military folks can pass these responsibilities on to other organisations, well, we will," he said without providing a time frame.

Indonesia said recently it would impose a deadline of the end of March for the withdrawal of foreign troops providing relief assistance in Aceh.

The US State Department has said Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla clarified Friday with the American envoy in Jakarta no fixed time limit would be imposed on foreign troops and three months was only an estimate.

But US marines delivering aid to survivors were forced to scale back their presence on shore and move to ships to address sensitivities in Aceh, where government forces have been fighting separatist rebels from the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM.

Wolfowitz said he felt Jakarta was not setting deadlines so much as "setting goals and expressing their own desire to take a responsibility in their own country as quickly as possible."

"We applaud that," he said.