Govt claims early success in Aceh operation

Govt claims early success in Aceh operation

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite several shortcomings, the government said on Wednesday
the ongoing military operation to crush the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) in the province had been nothing but a success and was
moving faster then expected.

Overlooking the failure to save more than 300 schools from
arson attacks, the food distribution crisis and the flow of
thousands of refugees in the past 10 days, the government said
the operation had given it the upper hand.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Endriartono
Sutarto said that in the first two weeks, the TNI managed to
locate and reclaim GAM strongholds across the province.

"Our original plan was that within two months we would
identify their (GAM) locations and reclaim them, however we made
it in only two weeks," Endriartono told a press briefing that
followed a ministerial meeting to evaluate how the integrated
operations were progressing in Aceh.

He said in the coming months, the TNI expected to separate GAM
members from other members of the community.

"We expect that within the next two months, we will manage to
force GAM members to stay away from the villages and leave the
people alone," he remarked.

TNI has repeatedly blamed the casualties among civilians on
the GAM tactic of living among civilians. The military also
accused the rebels of employing teenagers as spies.

Regarding the operation to enforce law and order, National
Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said so far the police had
arrested around 60 GAM members or people linked to the rebels
across the country over the last nine days. Some were arrested in
Jakarta and some in neighboring towns in Sumatra.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a decree to impose
martial law in the province on May 19 after peace talks between
the government and GAM in Tokyo collapsed.

The government has now stationed more than 40,000 military and
police personnel in the province to fight GAM, which has an
estimated 5,000 members.

Three days into the military operation, more than 300 school
buildings were burned by unidentified people, leaving more than
40,000 students without classrooms.

The first week saw the prices of staple foods increase up to
30 percent as food distribution was disrupted and several trucks
carrying food supplies from Medan in North Sumatra were burned
along the route.

The latest report from Aceh said that more than 23,000 people
have taken refuge, especially around North Aceh and Bireuen
regencies, which experience heavy gunfights almost every day.

However, none of the top government officials were willing on
Wednesday to admit these shortcomings.

The growing fear and anxiety among the Acehnese people since
the operation began was not addressed during the meeting either.

Endriartono said that so far his soldiers had been carrying
out their task well and he once again underlined that he would
not hesitate to take stern action against his soldiers who abused
people.

"If they hurt people, I will not hesitate to shoot them in the
head," the TNI chief asserted.

In his report, Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah
dismissed reports of refugees or other Acehnese who were short of
food.

"We have managed to provide supplies of all necessary food and
other basic needs in 13 points across the province. There will be
no food shortage," he asserted.

From Banda Aceh, administrator of martial law in Aceh Maj.
Gen. Endang Suwarya said camps had been prepared for civilians
displaced by war and four million ID cards would be replaced --
signs the assault on separatist rebels is being stepped up.

Sixteen tent camps in nine districts -- including Bireuen,
Pidie and North Aceh -- had been erected, he said as quoted by
AFP, adding that refugees would be provided with sanitation
facilities and temporary classrooms.

The military, aided by provincial administrators, will issue
new ID cards for some 4.2 million residents in Aceh next month,
Endang said, which signals heightened efforts by the military to
distinguish civilians from the rebels.

The first phase will affect 1.7 million people.

Endang said "there are no longer heavy concentrations of GAM"
but troops will continue operations in several areas because most
of them "have blended in with the public".