Conflict 'intensifying' in Aceh despite peace talks

Conflict 'intensifying' in Aceh despite peace talks

Agencies, Banda Aceh/Jakarta

Attacks by separatist rebels in the tsunami-hit province of Aceh
have intensified in recent weeks despite a renewed peace dialog,
military officials said on Thursday.

Aceh military spokesman Ari Mulya Asnawi said troops had
killed 20 rebels in the month of April as the separatists stepped
up their attacks in the province.

"They are committing more extortions, kidnappings and
senseless killing. They are more brutal," he was quoted by AFP as
saying.

In the latest incident on Wednesday, troops killed two
separatist rebels in a gunfight in the district of South Aceh and
confiscated several firearms, two homemade bombs and more than
100 bullets, he said.

Earlier this week, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the
Dec. 26 tsunami, which killed more than 128,000 people and left
another 37,000 missing in Aceh, had led to a reduction in
violence in the province.

"The good news, of course, is that on the conflict side,
things are under control," he said.

Aceh has since 1976 been the scene of a violent struggle
between separatist rebels and Jakarta.

More than 12,000 people have been killed in resource-rich Aceh
since rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) launched their
campaign for independence.

The conflict intensified in May 2003 when a truce collapsed
and Aceh was put under temporary martial law, but the December
tsunami prompted Jakarta and the rebels to reopen a dialogue.
Representatives of the two camps met for a third round of
informal talks in Finland this month and agreed to meet again in
May.

Meanwhile, the government said foreign peacekeepers won't be
part of any international monitoring of Aceh after a possible
peace deal with the rebels.

The European Union said on Tuesday the mediator for ongoing
peace talks, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, had
raised the possibility of deploying peacekeeping troops in Aceh
to manage any deal to end three decades of fighting.

After three rounds of talks in Finland that began in January,
the government and the GAM said in a statement earlier this month
they would welcome involvement from regional organizations such
as the European Union (EU) in monitoring a peace agreement.

However, information minister Sofyan Djalil, a key member of
the government's negotiating team, said on Wednesday a foreign
peacekeeping troop deployment in Aceh was not an option.

"The general understanding is that if a peace deal is reached,
an external monitoring team will become possible but not a
foreign peacekeeping force," he told Reuters.

"If there is a deal, it needs to be monitored. The monitors
can be civilians or from the military. But remember, the deal has
not been reached yet," said Djalil, who is Acehnese.