U.N. Lifts Ban on Travel in Sumatra

A ban on aid workers’ traveling between the cities of Banda Aceh and Medan on Sumatra island expired today after fears of a terrorist attack or renewed fighting between government and rebel forces eased, said U.N. security consultant Werner Van den Berg.

Van den Berg said United Nations officials had discussed the security situation with Indonesian police before lifting the travel ban in devastated Aceh province.

On Monday, aid officials said there had been some reports of clashes between the army and rebels, and Denmark warned its aid workers to be on the alert for an imminent terrorist attack.

Mans Nyberg, a spokesman for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, said “there was reportedly a small battle between the army” and the rebels. He said he didn’t know when the battle had occurred.

Spokesmen for the rebels and the military could not confirm Monday that any fighting had taken place.

In the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, Anthony Banbury -- the Asia regional head of the United Nations World Food Program -- said his group was investigating the basis for the Danish warning.

“We are inquiring about its origins and seeking to learn more about that statement,” Banbury said. “The World Food Program itself has not seen any indication of a heightened security environment.”

Insisting that aid workers had nothing to fear, rebel leader Tengku Mucksalmina on Monday 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 from this tragedy,” Mucksalmina said from his jungle hide-out near Banda Aceh.

“We would never ambush any convoy with aid for them,” Mucksalmina said. “We want them [aid groups] to stay. We ask them not to leave the Acehnese people who are suffering.”