Mortar rounds fired as siege continues<\/p>\n
Agencies, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Residents of troubled Aceh province reported gun and mortar fire
\nSunday as government forces ignored a separatist deadline to the
\nmilitary to pull back from their siege of rebel positions.<\/p>\n
Instead, the military said it was tightening the siege.<\/p>\n
Residents reported hearing mortar rounds fired from government
\npositions before dawn on Sunday near Cot Trieng, a swampy area
\nwhere more than 1,000 Indonesian troops have been surrounding
\ndozens of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels for about three weeks.<\/p>\n
The residents said the mortar rounds were followed by gunfire
\nnear the besieged area well into the day on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The long-range mortar rounds are believed to be the first
\nfired in a week and came ahead of a 03:00 GMT Sunday deadline
\nwhich GAM set for Indonesian troops to show signs of withdrawing
\nfrom the besieged area in Nisam district, southwest of
\nLhokseumawe city.<\/p>\n
Aceh military spokesman Lt. Col. Firdaus Komarno told AFP a
\n15-minute exchange of gunfire between government and rebel troops
\ntook place Sunday morning when between 20 and 30 rebels tried to
\nescape from swamps in the besieged area. Government gunfire drove
\nthem back in, Firdaus said.<\/p>\n
He confirmed the mortar fire overnight Saturday, saying it was
\nto put pressure on the rebels.<\/p>\n
Government forces are tightening the siege by moving closer to
\nGAM positions and decreasing the distance between army posts to
\nas little as 10 meters around the besieged area, Firdaus said.<\/p>\n
GAM had given Indonesian troops 24 hours to begin a withdrawal
\nand said if the deadline was not met, rebel intelligence units
\nhad orders to start shooting.<\/p>\n
But the order to open fire had not yet been issued, GAM's
\ndeputy spokesman Isnandar Al-Pase told AFP Sunday after the
\ndeadline expired.<\/p>\n
\"The situation is still normal and GAM combat intelligence
\nguerrillas are on full alert. The order to attack will be given
\nif Indonesian soldiers are already extremely close to us,\" Al-
\nPase said.<\/p>\n
He said there had been a \"routine\" exchange of fire overnight
\nSaturday at the besieged area which is about nine kilometers long
\nand one kilometer across.<\/p>\n
Foreign peace monitors have begun arriving in Aceh in
\nanticipation of a proposed \"cessation of hostilities\" agreement
\nbeing signed by GAM and the Indonesian government.<\/p>\n
The government hopes to sign the agreement on Nov. 23 but the
\nrebels, in a statement from their Swedish headquarters on Friday,
\nquestioned why Indonesia is trying to \"hurriedly force GAM to
\nsign.\"<\/p>\n
The peace proposal calls for an immediate end to hostilities.<\/p>\n
The rebels said Saturday that they supported a proposed peace
\nplan aimed at ending a 26-year civil war but would not be
\npressured into signing any deal.<\/p>\n
Tengku Kamaruzzaman, a GAM spokesman, said the rebels agreed
\nin principle to the proposal unveiled on Friday, which called for
\nautonomy for the province's 4 million people, elections for a
\nprovincial legislature and administration, and cessation of
\nviolence.<\/p>\n
But he warned that the military's weeklong siege of a rebel
\ncamp in northern Aceh threatened to derail any peace plan and
\nerode trust.<\/p>\n
\"The seizing of the rebel camp by the military makes it more
\ndifficult for us to believe in the Indonesian government,\"
\nKamaruzzaman was quoted by AP as saying. \"If they keep up this
\nsiege, it will hard for us to sign a peace agreement.\"<\/p>\n
But Kamaruzzaman said rebels still planned to take part in
\npeace talks scheduled for next month and brokered by the Geneva-
\nbased Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.<\/p>\n
Some 10,000 people are estimated to have been killed since GAM
\nbegan its independence struggle on the northern tip of Sumatra
\nisland in 1976. Rights monitors say more than 1,200 civilians
\nhave died this year.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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