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Jokowi inspects burnt forests, calls for investigation

Published on 18 Sep 2019 6:30:19 PM

Indonesia President Joko Widodo on Tuesday paid a visit to one of the burnt forests in Sumatra where artificial rain was dumped to put out the fires, and called for an investigation into those behind it.

Indonesia and neighboring countries in Southeast Asia are regularly hit by smoky haze from slash-and-burn clearances of forests for timber and palm oil plantations, but conditions this year have been the worst since 2015 due to an El Nino weather pattern causing an extended dry spell.