Gus Dur pledges quick solution for Aceh problem

TOKYO (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid said on Monday he wanted to resolve the question of Aceh within a month, a Japanese official said here.

The chairman of the Japan-Indonesia Parliament Friendship League, Taku Yamasaki, quoted Abdurrahman as saying Jakarta's official response to the Acehnese demand for a self-determination referendum would be announced after taking into account several key considerations.

"Although some uncertainties remain, I want to make efforts to resolve the issue within a month," Yamasaki quoted Abdurrahman as saying after a meeting at the Imperial Hotel, where the President is staying during his two-day visit here.

Abdurrahman said last week he and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri would visit Aceh after he returned from his trip to America and Japan.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab revealed earlier in the day that the United States government would soon send a special team to help Indonesia settle the Aceh crisis.

Speaking aboard the presidential plane from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Tokyo, Alwi announced the President had accepted U.S. President Bill Clinton's offer to send a conflict resolution team to Jakarta to help the government end conflicts in Aceh and other troubled provinces.

Alwi said U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright reiterated Clinton's offer, which was made during a meeting between Abdurrahman and Clinton at the White House on Friday.

"He (Clinton) does not want to see Aceh separate from Indonesia; he wants to see Aceh remain a part of Indonesia," Alwi said.

Alwi said the American team would comprise senior experts who had experience resolving internal conflicts in Kosovo, Bosnia and Africa. He added that team would act as advisers to the Indonesian government and would not travel to Aceh to negotiate agreements.

"They will just give us advice. There will be no interference," Alwi said.

Meanwhile in Aceh, migrant settlers have begun fleeing the restive province amid fears of unrest as the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) prepares to celebrate a Dec. 4 anniversary, AFP reported on Monday.

An official at Malahayati Port in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh was quoted as saying a wave of people fleeing the province was triggered by leaflets calling on them to leave Aceh ahead of the 23rd anniversary of the 1976 declaration of independence by separatists.

"Normally, the Sangiang ship carries 50 or 70 passengers. Now it carries more than 100 each time it leaves the port," Al Anshor said.

The Sangiang runs from Malahayati in Aceh to the port of Belawan in neighboring North Sumatra every other day, Anshor said.

"It's because of the leaflets calling on non-Acehnese to leave ahead of the anniversary celebration," he said.

In the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe, hundreds of people have joined the exodus, traveling by road to the North Sumatra capital of Medan.

Flights from Banda Aceh to Medan are also fully booked, Detik on-line news service quoted an official of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia as saying in the provincial capital.

However, GAM commander Tengku Abdullah Syafei was quoted by local Serambi Indonesia daily as denying allegations GAM was forcing non-Acehnese settlers out of the resource-rich province.

Abdullah said GAM was "politically at war" with the government of Indonesia-Java, not with its people.

"We won't do anything to harm them. But we're worried that they will be harmed by provocateurs, and we don't want to be the scapegoat forever," he was quoted as saying by Serambi.

He said non-Acehnese migrants had been advised to seek refuge to prevent them from falling victim to instigators of unrest.

Meanwhile, Aceh Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud said in Jakarta on Monday demands for a referendum did not necessarily mean the Acehnese wanted independence.

"The demands for a referendum could mean anything. But as far as I know, there is an option and this must still be discussed," he said.

Violence in the province continued with the discovery of the bodies of two unidentified men on Sunday on Jl. Kecamatan Masjid Raya in Aceh Besar regency, 40 kilometers from Banda Aceh. Two days earlier, two other corpses were discovered by local residents in the same area.

Aceh Besar Police chief Lt. Isfar Muchtaruddin confirmed the discovery on Monday. (50/prb/byg)