Indonesia's military claimed Sunday it has killed more than 200 rebels in devastated Aceh province in the four weeks since the Asian tsunami, raising concerns about the security of relief operations as a U.N. agency warned that 200,000 survivors still do not have enough to eat.
In Sri Lanka, also hit by decades of separatist fighting, Norwegian diplomats met Sunday with the prime minister in an effort to ensure that rebel-held areas receive their fair share of tsunami aid.
Tamil Tiger rebels accuse the government of obstructing the flow of aid. The government denies the allegations.
Four weeks after the December 26 disaster, the death toll in 11 countries ranges from 157,000 to 221,000 — with the large discrepancy blamed on conflicting death tolls from different government agencies in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, the two nations hit hardest.
Indonesian Welfare Minister Alwi Shihab said authorities there were working to get their count straight, but the exact number of dead will probably never be determined.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the World Food Program said 200,000 refugees in Indonesia's Aceh province are still not receiving adequate food despite the huge aid operations.
