Only a handful of tsunami-hit countries have accepted an offer of a “breath of oxygen” from rich nations to suspend billions of pounds in debt repayments, it was revealed today.

Dan Eaton, Banda Aceh

As foreign military cargo planes touched down in Indonesia today with emergency aid, fears rose that the bodies of perhaps tens of thousands of victims will never be found. Entire villages have been swept to sea.

The West must stop associating Islam with violence, poverty and indignity, top officials from three southeast Asian nations have stressed.

South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has urged African and Asian nations to form a “strategic partnership” to reverse the marginalisation of their two continents in world affairs.