BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) – The steady stream of dignitaries flying in to visit the tsunami-devastated coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province is clogging the region’s main airport and slowing down critical aid deliveries, relief workers said Saturday.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan were among those who stopped in Banda Aceh this week, temporarily shutting down the provincial capital’s only airport with their heavy security and briefly preventing incoming aid planes from using the facility’s only airstrip.

“It slows things down,” said Maj. Murad Khan, a spokesman for Pakistan’s Tsunami Relief Task Force. “I think they need to coordinate that better.”

Officials say such visits are vital to securing foreign aid for the region, where more than 100,000 people died in the Dec. 26 quake and subsequent tsunami.

Before the disaster, Banda Aceh’s tiny air strip handled about three flights a day; now it is a bustling hub for relief operations that has to cope with dozens of flights a day.

A delegation of American congressmen visited Banda Aceh on Saturday. They arrived on a U.S. military helicopter so as not to take up a landing strip slot.

Tim Gerhardson, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, said Powell’s plane took off again after dropping him off Wednesday so it wouldn’t be in the way. The secretary of state toured the area by helicopter and Gerhardson said aid shipments continued to flow during that time.

“I did not notice any stoppage,” he said.

Michael Elmquist, the U.N. official in charge of operations in Sumatra, did not answer a call seeking comment on Annan’s visit Friday.

Maj. Gen. Bambang Darmono, Indonesia’s military commander for Aceh, said there was “no policy” on closing the airport completely but standard security procedures required that flights be “reorganized” around the visits of dignitaries.

Pakistan’s aid mission was one of several delayed. The 220-member team of military doctors and civilian engineers was scheduled to arrive Dec. 31 but had to be rerouted to the east Sumatran city of Medan because the Banda Aceh airstrip was unavailable. From Medan, they hired trucks to make the 15-hour drive, but as they neared the provincial capital the Indonesian army refused to let them through and they returned to Medan.

“In Medan we were hearing that Colin Powell was there and that’s why we couldn’t get here,” said Khan, drinking tea near the airport’s tarmac. “At least we’re here now, that’s what’s important.”

A diplomat from an Asian country with a military relief mission in Aceh called it “a difficult situation.”

“VIPs come in and see the destruction for themselves and then aid follows,” said the diplomat, who asked that he and his country not be identified.

Pierre King, of the International Organization of Migration aid group, said there was no way around the problem.

“It’s horrible, but what can we do?” he asked, noting that the airport closures had not affected his group, an organization of 104 countries helping to deliver food and treat the injured. “I had my stock already, thank God, so I didn’t stop working.”

The International Organization of Migration said it was organizing the first truck convoy to carry supplies to the stricken region from Jakarta – 930 miles away – on Monday because the airport is so busy.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi have also been among the visitors to Aceh, on the western tip of the island of Sumatra. On Friday Singapore flew a mobile air traffic control tower to the airport to replace damaged equipment. The mobile unit, delivered by a military transport plane, reportedly came with an independent power generator, hydraulic lifts to raise it 15 feet, and a cabin that can hold six people.

Not all dignitaries have disrupted deliveries. Britain’s chief of international development, Hilary Benn, said he flew into Aceh on a cargo plane carrying aid.

While much of Banda Aceh looks like a huge scrap pile and still reeks of rotting flesh, there were some signs of normal life on Saturday. Women haggled over the price of bananas, chickens and goats at a bustling market. Barbers set up shop and old men sipped coffee in outdoor cafes.

AP-ES-01-08-05 0655EST