International solidarity

The Jakarta conference to seek international aid reassures tsunami victims and emphasises the central role of the United Nations in dispensing aid.

in Jakarta

IT was a rare display of competitive aid diplomacy at its best, and the occasion was an emergency international summit on the world's worst natural disaster in living memory.

The conference, organised under the auspices of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta on January 6, was referred to by the host, Indonesia, as the get-together of "a community of grief". In the end, as a diplomatic observer noted, the one-day political event turned into a symphony of shared hopes, and not despair.

An air of mourning hung over the conference. And, outwardly, there were no differences of opinion over the need to address the ramifications of the December 26 disaster, including the immediate tasks of clearing up the devastated areas, and organising relief for the survivors and, more important, the long-term need to be able to predict and prevent, if possible, tsunami disasters. The question of establishing an early warning system, an eminently feasible technological mechanism, was regarded as the primary preventive measure that would be preferable to the proverbial cure. Nearly 30 countries and international organisations participated in the conference.

At least two among them, badly hit India and a relatively far-less-affected Malaysia, required no foreign assistance to meet the crisis. Instead, these two offered help to the other affected countries.

For India, represented by External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh, the summit was not only about confronting the grim international catastrophe but also about an opportunity to extend the country's scientific and technological expertise and other skills to the affected countries. From India's perspective, the issues at this conference had nothing to do with questions on whether or not the country was measuring up to the challenges at home, which range from early-warning capabilities to the scale of people's expectations and the country's performance with regard to the post-tsunami relief efforts.

Natwar Singh was able to place India right at the centre of attention at the conference as an aid-provider. He brought into focus India's scientific, technological and military-logistic capabilities to render urgent help not only to Sri Lanka and the Maldives but also Indonesia.

Natwar Singh held a series of meetings with the other key players: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Australian Prime Minster John Howard and Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura, among others. He later called on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was widely acclaimed for organising the emergency summit, at short notice, despite the Herculean relief tasks on his hands at home.

Wen Jiabao was among the leaders who "deeply appreciated" India's proactive role of helping others while helping itself during the tsunami crisis.

Japan is the biggest donor, having pledged $500 million as initial grant-aid to the affected countries. For Japan, the continuing challenge is one of being on the scene on such occasions and dispel the notion that it indulged in "cheque-book diplomacy".

In a global context, three dimensions of aid diplomacy came to the fore during the Jakarta conference, which was originally proposed by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong so as to catalyse multilateral efforts to address the humanitarian consequences of the natural calamity.

Given the magnitude of the challenge, it came as no surprise that the politics of aid-diplomacy came into focus, often behind the scenes but also at the ground level of the conference itself.

First, the U.N.'s effort to play the lead role was conspicuous, although Kofi Annan downplayed the fact that the "core group" was the first to get off the block to render aid. The absence of U.S. President George W. Bush, who had taken the "lead" in forming the core group in cooperation with India as also Japan and Australia, may have helped the U.N. raise its profile at the conference. The U.S. was represented by its outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The U.S. was jolted by India's action into becoming the prime mover for a core group. India, itself a tsunami victim, was seen to have swung into humanitarian action in Sri Lanka.

It is in the context of the formation of the core group, now said to be disbanded following the show of solidarity at the Jakarta meeting and in view of the ASEAN taking the initiative for a funding conference, that Kofi Annan announced the launching of a new initiative worth nearly $1 billion for "a focussed set of [relief] programmes" under U.N. auspices.

Kofi Annan's "flash appeal" for funds of this order was welcomed by the assembled leaders, who requested him to appoint a special representative to cope with the current challenges, convene an "international pledging conference" and explore the formation of "a standby arrangement" at the global level to predict and face tsunamis. The conference also called for the establishment of "a regional tsunami early warning centre" for countries along the Indian Ocean rim and in South-East Asia. The existing Pacific model was kept in mind.

The U.N.'s appeal for funds certainly fell far short of the money already pledged by individual countries, independent of the world body, estimated at about $2 billion to $5 billion (depending on how concrete these pledges are). Recognising this, Kofi Annan still maintained, in response to a question from Frontline that "the U.N. is in the lead" and that the core group had indeed made "an essential contribution" that would help the world body "get to those in need particularly those in remote areas".

Closely linked to this is the second dimension of aid diplomacy: the role and relevance of the core group. In Kofi Annan's assessment, the group consisted of a few countries "which have assets in the [tsunami-hit] region, military or otherwise" and they "came together to support the relief effort" in the immediate context of the earthquake-tsunami strike. "That is why you see the U.S. military, Australia, Singapore and India coming together to provide logistical support," he said.

While the U.S. military machine is the most conspicuous logistics-provider, India, too, has deployed some ships of the Indian Navy for humanitarian relief in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and also Indonesia. Natwar Singh informed the Jakarta conference about the deployment of a hospital ship and a relief supplies ship of the Indian Navy in the Aceh region. He said: "Even as I speak, the Indian relief effort at Meulaboh [the worst-affected town in the Aceh province] is in full operation. An on-shore field hospital has been set up in this devastated town and relief supplies are being delivered and distributed to the victims."

In the context of the "reinstatement" of the U.N. as the main player as regards relief efforts, Natwar Singh told the leaders that India would be "happy to place the strengths of the Indian Navy for use in humanitarian relief in the region".

Singapore and Australia, too, are deploying their military resources for humanitarian relief. However, the looming spectacle of the U.S. Navy's operations, close to the strategic Straits of Malacca, has raised concerns about the possibility of Washington establishing a long-term military presence in the areas it was not physically present until now.

While Kofi Annan has sought to allay such concerns on the ground that the core group's mandate was humanitarian in scope, the third dimension of aid diplomacy, namely "competitive compassion", came into sharp focus at the Jakarta conference. Regional powers close to the disaster zone vied with one another to offer help, with or without a military-driven humanitarian effort, to those affected countries that sought external aid. In all, therefore, aid-diplomacy is yet to run its course, especially in regard to the long-term political implications for the affected region, which includes some "rebel areas" in Sri Lanka and also Indonesia.