Gunfire breaks TNI-GAM truce<\/p>\n
Agencies, Banda Aceh\/Lhok Nga<\/p>\n
\"There was just an exchange of fire down there,\" a local resident
\nsaid on Thursday, indicating a beach in Lhok Nga, just outside
\nBanda Aceh.<\/p>\n
Lhok Nga was known as a beachfront recreation area before the
\ntsunami came.<\/p>\n
The clash on Thursday morning happened just off the coast that
\nused to be the site of a housing compound for military engineers
\nand infantry. It has now been reduced to scattered bricks and
\nrubble.<\/p>\n
\"There was contact between the TNI and rebels,\" said a soldier
\nof the Army's Special Forces, or Kopassus, referring to the
\nseparatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).<\/p>\n
The soldier, who was speaking aboard an Indonesian Military
\n(TNI) speedboat that had been spotted earlier racing along the
\nshoreline, said the rebels got away.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the barefoot commander of the Kopassus team, his
\nshirt untucked, refused to discuss the incident.<\/p>\n
A military spokesman admitted last Friday that despite the
\ndisaster, the TNI offensive against the separatists was
\ncontinuing. He added that it may be scaled down, as troops were
\ndevoting a large portion of their time to relief efforts.<\/p>\n
The day after the Dec. 26 disaster, military chief Gen.
\nEndriartono Sutarto called for a temporary cease-fire to support
\naid efforts. The following day, the GAM leadership said from
\nSweden -- where they reside in self-exile -- that it had imposed
\nits own unilateral cease-fire.<\/p>\n
\"They're not brave enough to bother us in the daytime,\" said a
\nsoldier stationed in front of the badly-damaged Semen Andalas
\ncement plant, about one kilometer down the beachfront road.
\n\"They're trying to provoke us.\" He also reported that gunfire
\ncame from the hills at night.<\/p>\n
During the day, local residents use the beachfront road to
\ntravel between the capital and their villages, about a two-day
\nwalk.<\/p>\n
\"You won't give that to GAM will you?\" a soldier inquired as
\nhe inspected the belongings of a man who was offering the
\npedestrians water and medical aid from in front of a tent.<\/p>\n
The TNI claims that GAM may have acquired uniforms and weapons
\nfrom the destroyed base nearby. \"The weapons disappeared and
\npeople say GAM took them,\" one soldier said.<\/p>\n
However, it is equally likely that the munitions were swept
\naway by the unimaginable wall of water that knocked down many
\nshoreline trees.<\/p>\n
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland has called on
\ngovernments and rebels in Aceh, Sri Lanka and Somalia to keep the
\npeace or risk losing US$3.7 billion in aid.<\/p>\n
\"We need that cease-fire, that peace to hold, because if a new
\nconflict breaks out, we cannot help the people,\" he said on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
Despite the reported skirmish, aid continued to flow in to
\nBanda Aceh airport.<\/p>\n
\"As far as I know, there haven't been any delays,\" said
\nMichael Elmquist, who heads the UN operation in Aceh.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/gunfire-breaks-tni-gam-truce-1447893297",
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