Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Confusion surfaced on Friday as top government officials issued conflicting statements over whether the presence of foreign aid agencies, including non-governmental organizations, and journalists in tsunami-ravaged Aceh would be limited.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla denied reports last week that the government would limit the presence of foreign aid organizations that have been assisting survivors in Aceh. "Foreign aid agencies are free to stay there. There is no deadline," he told The Jakarta Post in a special interview on Wednesday.

But chief welfare minister Alwi Shihab said on Friday the government would ask international aid groups to leave if they did not have a role in long-term reconstruction projects. The government will consult the United Nations and donor countries about which foreign aid agencies would stay or leave after March 26, he added.

Some 380 foreign non-governmental organizations had been registered to assist tsunami victims but 200 have already left Aceh.

Alwi said the government would take steps ahead of the March 26 deadline to ensure that the activities of foreign non-governmental organizations matched the needs of the devastated province.

"There are no restrictions on foreign NGOs except for those not qualified for reconstruction," he told a joint press conference with UN Special Coordinator of Tsunami-Affected Communities Margaretta Walstr"m in Banda Aceh.

Alwi also promised to allow foreign journalists to stay. "It's important because Indonesia wants to show to the world transparency in reconstructing Aceh."

The National Police Aceh task force said on March 3 that starting March 26, only a limited number of foreigners would be allowed to stay. It said certain UN agencies, foreign non-governmental organizations and the media had to leave Aceh by the deadline as their presence would no longer be "relevant to the current situation" there.

The UN agencies on the exit list include the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), whose presence according to the task force would not be essential to the reconstruction of Aceh.

However, Kalla said the March 26 deadline applied only to foreign troops, not relief organizations. "Their presence is very important, so they will able to deliver aid in line with the [reconstruction] goals.

"But for [foreign] military personnel, their presence will not be necessary because their function is more tied to an emergency situation, particularly the provision of transportation facilities, which are currently not so urgently needed because some of them have already been restored," he argued.

Most foreign troops, including those from the United States, Australia and Japan, bade farewell to Aceh after completing their humanitarian relief operations less than three months after a tsunami decimated Aceh and parts of North Sumatra on December 26.

Earlier, many Acehnese victims of the disaster appealed to the government to review the policy of limiting the number of foreigners in the province.

The displaced people said the presence of foreign aid organizations was necessary as they still needed assistance. In Banda Aceh, the United Nations said on Thursday Aceh would still need humanitarian assistance on a large scale after March 26.

Hiro Ueki, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) in Aceh, declined to speculate on what the government would do, but said the devastated province still needed plenty of help. "We do see continuing humanitarian needs and on a large scale the needs are quite evident," Ueki was quoted by Reuters as saying.

He cited the UN World Food Program, which he said planned to provide food for up to 600,000 people until the end of the year. "That's the kind of clear indication of humanitarian needs that will continue to exist. If you look at devastated areas, a lot of people still live in camps. We do see continuing needs for humanitarian assistance." Kalla urged all aid agencies to be transparent in designing and carrying out their humanitarian programs in Aceh. "If they [donor countries] have asked for financial transparency from us, we also ask the same of them," he said without elaborating.

The Vice President said Indonesia hoped that other countries that had pledged aid funds for Aceh's reconstruction would honor their commitment.