Gus Dur pledges quick solution for Aceh problem

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)