GAM accuses TNI of attempting genocide
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rejected a recent order from the Aceh military commander to surrender to the motherland of Indonesia, accusing the Indonesian Military (TNI) of trying to eliminate them.
Sofyan Dawood, the spokesman of GAM military wing, said in a statement that "the Aceh nation answers the (Indonesia's) call for war in the name of the sacred faith to protect Aceh sovereignty".
"Aceh National Military Commander condemns TNI Commander (Gen. Endriartono) Sutarto who ordered his men to root out GAM, which clearly reveals the aim to commit genocide," he said.
Dawood added that the failure of the recent peace talks in Tokyo had been engineered by Indonesia, calling it "a mere political maneuver".
The Aceh Military Commander, Maj. Gen. Endang Kuswanto, ordered GAM to surrender shortly after President Megawati Soekarnoputri announced late on Sunday the government's decision to impose martial law in the province following the failure of the peace talks in Tokyo over the weekend.
Separately, a GAM leader in Sweden said that GAM troops could resist the Indonesian forces indefinitely.
Mahmud Malik, who lives in exile, was quoted by Reuters as saying that his supporters in Aceh would go on fighting "forever, as (long as) the Acehnese people exist".
"We have been fighting Indonesia for 27 years... we are confident that we will be able to resist them. We have to claim back what they have stolen from us. They are the robbers and we have to demand back our property that they have taken -- with interest," Malik said.
He was confident that GAM members knew how to live in Aceh's jungle and were familiar with the mountainous terrain.
"We have long experience. We have become more and more sophisticated in guerrilla warfare," Malik remarked.
He refused to reveal the number of the group's armed members. However, the government estimates that there are currently some 5,000 men in the GAM military wing.
The government sent about 50,000 military and police troops to fight the separatist forces.
Malik said that GAM had no problem with weapons.
"We bought some from their soldiers who needed money," he said with a hearty laugh.
The bloody conflict in Aceh started in 1976 when GAM sought independence. About 10,000 people had been killed during the war.