Aceh disorder 'beyond police capability', says Widodo<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's Military Chief Adm. Widodo A.S.
\ndefended on Thursday the government's plan to deploy troops to
\nAceh to quell the separatist movement.<\/p>\n
\"The security problems in Aceh are beyond the police's
\ncapability,\" Widodo said after a Cabinet meeting at the Bina
\nGraha presidential office.<\/p>\n
\"We have to look at things objectively, because what is
\nhappening in Aceh is an armed insurgency.\"<\/p>\n
He stressed, however, that Cabinet had decided the military
\nwould only be deployed to back police in restoring order.<\/p>\n
Senior military officers had earlier said at least a battalion
\nand three companies of combat troops from East Java were on
\nstandby for immediate deployment to Aceh.<\/p>\n
Reports said the troops were sent recently to the Army's
\nSpecial Force (Kopassus) training and education center in West
\nJava for counter-insurgency training and commando exercises.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month the government officially branded the Free
\nAceh Movement (GAM) as separatists.<\/p>\n
The government had also announced it would launch \"limited
\nsecurity operations\" against rebels in Aceh.<\/p>\n
Acehnese strongly criticised the move, saying limited security
\noperations would be tantamount to the DOM (military operation
\nzone), a harsh military regime imposed in Aceh up until August
\n1998 which led to widespread human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters later on Thursday, Defense Minister
\nMahfud M.D. reiterated that the operations \"will only be limited\"
\nand that control would be in the hands of civilian officers.<\/p>\n
He also said concrete measures to deal with the separatists in
\nAceh were being formulated.<\/p>\n
Deaths<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Aceh, it was revealed that at least 15 police and
\ntwo military officers have been killed over the past fortnight.<\/p>\n
\"The officers died in various incidents, from ambushes, booby
\ntraps and bomb explosions to drive-by shootings,\" the deputy
\nspokesman of Cinta Meunasah II Operation, Comr. Sudarsono, told
\nThe Jakarta Post by telephone from Banda Aceh.<\/p>\n
On Thursday around 10 a.m. an ambush by GAM rebels in East
\nAceh killed police Brig. Khaidir, he said. A rebel named Abdul
\nWahab, 45, also died.<\/p>\n
\"The joint police and military patrol was passing the Keude
\nBlang village in Idi Rayeuk district, East Aceh, when suddenly
\narmed rebels opened fire. Officer Khaidir died instantly,\"
\nSudarsono said.<\/p>\n
It was also reported on Thursday that Suprin, a lawyer at the
\nNGO Coalition in South Aceh, and two other people were gunned
\ndown as they were travelling by car, Maimul Fidar, a human rights
\nactivist, said.<\/p>\n
Armed men also burnt buildings in Central Aceh around 3 p.m.
\non Thursday, leaving 17 houses gutted. No fatalities were
\nreported.(byg\/edt\/50)<\/p>",
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