Interview on CNN International

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, today I’ve just been in Jakarta and tomorrow I go to Aceh. So, today what I’ve had a chance to do is speak to the President, Yudhoyono, and some of the members of his team about their overall reconstruction effort. Some of the ways that we hope to help.

QUESTION: So, have you been able to assess at this point just through those discussions, just what has been done so far?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, so far there has been a tremendous job by the Indonesian Government, the U.S. military played a key role, many other countries, a number of NGOs on the humanitarian side: food, water, trying to make sure there is no spread of disease. But part of the purpose of this visit is to try to help on the pivot from the humanitarian aid to the reconstruction side. The President has been working with our Congress to try to get about 900 million dollars for all the countries that were hit by the tsunami, to try to help with everything from infrastructure––tomorrow I’ll be at a new critical road that we’re helping to build in Aceh, to helping people move from camps to develop some shelter in communities. So, there is a key dimension now of moving from the humanitarian side to the longer-term reconstruction.

QUESTION: And so from that, basically it’s long-term reconstruction. That’s the area that you are seeing is the greatest demand, or are you saying that there are other areas that need concentration?

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well, it really needs a smooth transition. The people in Aceh, for example, still need food. The sanitation issue has to be maintained so that you don’t ave the spread of disease. But, yes, the key point now is to try to make sure, for example, that people get their homes rebuilt, that the roads are rebuilt. But also, for example, try to restimulate some of the economic activity, some of which relates to the reconstruction, but might involve, for example, micro-credit programs. So, the Indonesian Government has developed a plan over the past few months. They now appointed a new individual, Mr. Kuntoro, to try to be head of the implementation of it. I’ll see him out in Aceh tomorrow. And so we want to try to make sure that we are meshing well with them and others so that we can continue what really was a tremendous job dealing with the terrible tragedy in Aceh and also then with the earthquake that took place in Nias shortly thereafter.

QUESTION: It sounds from that assessment that you’re fairly optimistic that the money that’s going to Indonesia so far is getting to the right places and the right people.

DEPUTY SECRETARY ZOELLICK: Well there’s a combination. And one of the other tremendous aspects of this was that there has been about $1.2 billion donated from the private sector: businesses and individuals to NGOs. And so, so far, the humanitarian aid has worked well. But now we need to focus on the broader reconstruction efforts. And that’s why the government developed a plan, that’s why the donor governments want to make sure there is a follow-through in a transparent and accountable fashion. So, this is a complicated task. These areas, as people saw in the pictures, were very badly devastated. But from the point of the view of the United States, we were pleased that former Secretary Powell came out promptly with Governor Jeb Bush of Florida, then we had President Bush 41, the current President’s father, along with President Clinton and so I am trying to now follow up and make sure that we’ve got the proper attention on this and I believe President Clinton will be coming out to the region again soon in his role with the UN, trying to help on the private sector side.