Weary Clinton Cancels Tsunami Trip

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was disappointed that he could not make a planned visit to tsunami-hit areas in the Maldives, his deputy said Sunday, as some officials said the cancellation was due to bad weather and others said Clinton was exhausted.

"He is disappointed ... He wanted to go," said Erskine Bowles, Clinton's former chief of staff and deputy to the ex-president in his role as special U.N. envoy for tsunami recovery.

"But we'll be back," Bowles said. Clinton had been slated to visit tsunami-devastated areas, speak to survivors and review recovery efforts. The ex-president was still set to meet with a U.N. team, as well as business and civil society leaders on Sunday, officials said.

Clinton was not sick, but was "just plain pooped and he wants to slow his schedule down," said Cherie Hart, regional communications officer for the U.N. Development Program and a coordinator of Clinton's visit. The former president had a heart bypass operation in September. In March, fluid and scar tissue were removed from his chest.

However, Brendan Varma, a U.N. spokesman in New York, said Clinton canceled the trip due to weather. "He is not exhausted," Varma said. "He is doing fine and he is going to continue with his busy schedule of meetings."

The monsoon season is just starting on the Maldives — a group of tiny, low-lying Islands off southern India. The country's meteorology department had forecast intermittent rain showers and moderate seas on Sunday. There were some sun breaks throughout the day.

Bowles said Clinton was set to go to the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh — in the area hardest by the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami — on Monday.

Clinton had initially planned to fly to the Maldives' Fonadhoo Island, one of those hardest hit by the tsunami. The wave tore away a seawall and turned the island's settlement into a ghost town. He had also been scheduled to meet survivors who had moved to a neighboring island, linked to Fonadhoo by a causeway.

Clinton's meetings with officials, initially scheduled for Sunday morning, were pushed back to the afternoon to let him rest, said Maldives government spokesman Ahmed Shaheed.

"It's a good place to relax," he said of Kurumba, the luxury resort where Clinton is staying. Kurumba is on an islet 10 minutes by boat from the country's capital, Male.

The officials would travel to the resort for the talks instead of Clinton having to go out for the meetings, Hart said.

Clinton was on a four-day trip to India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia to ensure that aid is being distributed fairly and efficiently, and to try keeping the world's attention on tsunami recovery.

The Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami killed more than 176,000 people in 11 countries, and left about 50,000 missing and hundreds of thousands homeless.

The tsunami had a devastating effect on the tiny Maldives. It spared only nine of the archipelago's 199 inhabited islands and destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of people. At least 82 people were killed, and 26 remain missing and presumed dead.