The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has allocated 66.8 million U.S. dollars for an assistance package to help improve children' welfare in Indonesian Aceh and North Sumatra provinces in 2007, an official said Thursday in Jakarta.

"The amount represents more than half of Unicef's overall assistance for children in Indonesia. The full-fledged assistance is to be given for children in Aceh and Nias district in North Sumatra," Antara news agency quoted Dedi Masykur Riyadi, deputy head of the department for human resources and culture at the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), as saying after signing a document on the Unicef assistance.

Aceh and Nias were hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in December 2004.

Unicef would also provide financial assistance for survivors of an earthquake that rattled Yogyakarta last May 27 but Dedi did not mention the amount of the assistance for Yogyakarta.

The document on Indonesia-Unicef cooperation for 2007 also stated that 120 million U.S. dollars in assistance funds would be used for Aceh reconstruction and rehabilitation as well as health and educational programs.

It said health assistance totaling 300,000 U.S. dollars for Acehnese people would come from donor agencies.

Unicef would also provide health assistance for other areas in Indonesia, namely Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Surabaya, Makassar, Kupang, Ambon and Jayapura. Nusatenggara and Java would receive sanitation assistance.

In addition, the UN agency would give assistance for education and HIV/AIDS prevention in Java, Nusatenggara, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua.

Source: Xinhua