Gus Dur urges Acehnese to settle their differences

GARUT, West Java (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid called on the Acehnese on Friday to sort out their divergent views on the referendum before approaching the central government.

"The people of Aceh must settle their differences first before consulting the central government," Abdurrahman said after attending Friday prayers here.

Abdurrahman, popularly known as Gus Dur, has been supportive of calls for a referendum in Aceh. However it remains unclear whether Gus Dur's proposal for the referendum would be for independence or greater autonomy within Indonesia.

"It will be difficult for us to help (the Acehnese) if they themselves do not know exactly what they want," Abdurrahman said.

Abdurrahman's statement came as activists, students, ulemas and legislators in Aceh continued to demand a referendum with an option for independence.

In Jakarta, Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah M. Saad said residents in Aceh were seeking a referendum in order to gain independence and not autonomy within Indonesia.

"There is enormous hope in Aceh that an option for independence should be included within a referendum offer," said Hasballah, who is a native Acehnese.

Hasballah visited Aceh last week to gather information and input, and to determine which Acehnese figures the President should meet with to discuss the future of the province.

He said he planned to make another visit to Aceh in the near future "to gather more information and to meet some more people".

Meanwhile in Banda Aceh, head of the Aceh Coalition for Human Rights Abdul Rahman Yacob alleged on Friday that six university students were abducted by the military while setting up an aid post for refugees in the Bakongan district in South Aceh.

Local military commander Lt. Col. Sunarko however denied the allegations.

Thousands of nonindigenous Acehnese who settled in the province have fled Aceh by air, sea and land amid fears of violence ahead of the anniversary of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Dec. 4.

Aceh has been wracked for several months by renewed violence between soldiers, civilians and separatist rebels.

The discontent has led to rising calls for a referendum on independence. One million people held a massive rally in the Acehnese capital of Banda Aceh last week to press for a ballot on self-determination.

The military has been accused of serious human rights abuses during a decade of antirebel operations which were only lifted last year.

Analysts have said that unresolved rights abuses in Aceh triggered the separatist sentiment in the province. (50/byg)