With the war in Aceh set to to intensify, Jakarta says its preparing for the evacuation of some 300,000 people. Since the weekend declaration of martial law after the collapse of peace talks, an estimated 12,000 Acehnese have already been displaced. And with that number expected to rise, Jakarta has launched a humanitarian operation, designating refugee shelters.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sarah Gibson

Speakers: Michael Elmquist, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jakarta; Achmad Sujudi, Indonesia's Health Minister

Gibson: The first contingent of extra medical workers is going to Aceh this week. 29 specialists have been sent by the Indonesian Ministry of Health, as part of emergency preparations following the imposition of martial law. Minister for Health, Achmad Sujudi, says there are already seven hospitals in the province, and extra resources will be sent in as required.

Sujudi: If necessary, we can mobilise doctors from another region of Indonesia. We can mobilise specialists, I think 100 more doctors, maybe 200 and nurses, may be 1000. What we are thinking now in the humanitarian is the people. I mean the common people not the military, because military they have their own system, but what we are preparing now, they're humanitarian for civilian.

Gibson: The Health Minister admits he has no idea how many civilian casualties to expect. But, he says the government is working with specific estimates when it comes to the expected numbers of Internally-Displaced People. Mr Sujudi says 85 camps have been set up around Aceh, and in neighbouring North Sumatra and Medan, to cope with a minimum 100,000 expected IDPs. But he says the number could well be higher.

Sujudi: It could be 300,000, I don't know exactly yet but our estimates made also by local government of Aceh and also by military, it's about 100,000 but it could be until 300,000.

Gibson: How concerned is the Indonesian governmnet about the humanitarian side of things ... I mean it is the Indonesian government that has launched this offensive, and clearly civilians are going to get hurt. How do you respond to that?

Sujudi: Yes we are very concerned about that ... so that's why we are strengthening our system there.

Gibson: The figure of 300,000 is backed up by the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA. It's role is to coordinate international humanitarian assistance, in cooperation with local governments. The head of its Indonesia office Michael Elmquist says contingency planning for Aceh has been underway for some time.

Elmquist: Over the last several weeks, we have initiated contingency planning. Initially, internally amongst the UN agencies, then we widened it to include the international NGOs, and most recently, we shared our contingency planning with the government, and the government shared their contingency planning with us, not in details but in broad terms. I think both parties are operating on the same kind of planning assumptions, that there could be up to 300,000 internally-displaced persons that would require humanitarian assistance. That figure is not a prediction, it is a kind of planning figure to simply have something to plan against.

Gibson: Would you say it is a worst case scenario?

Elmquist: No I think for us we regard it more as the most likely scenario. We also have a best case scenario which unfortunately we have not unfolded, and then the worst case scenario would be an all-out conflict, but I don't think that's likely.

Gibson: Health Minister Achmad Sujudi says he expects his department alone will spend 50 billion rupiah – or six million US dollars – on the first six months of the humanitarian operation. That figure is a fraction of Jakarta's latest 200 million US dollar estimate of the cost of the military operation in Aceh.

But, Michael Elmquist, from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jakarta, says the Indonesian government does seem to be aware of its humanitarian responsibilities.

Elmquist: Well all the indications we have, and as I say it is early days, but all the indications we have is that the Government is taking it extremely seriously. I met with government officials yesterday and discussed our cooperation, and the indication is that the governmnet is very keen for the UN and the international NGOs to continue their presence in Aceh and continue their humanitarian work there, and working with the government. So the indication we have is that indeed the government is taking them seriously. I think we should also recognise that we're coming up for elections next year so it's important for the government to be seen as doing the right thing.