Land offered to GAM rebels

Land offered to GAM rebels

Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh

The Aceh administration has moved to end armed conflict and stop
the killing in the province, and is offering land to separatists
rebels in exchange for unconditional surrender.

Head of the provincial agriculture and horticulture office
Samadi told a press conference at the Iskandar Muda Military
headquarters on Friday that the local government would provide
each Free Aceh Movement (GAM) member who surrendered with 3
hectares of land.

Samadi said the offer was part of a humanitarian mission, one
of the four major components of the so-called integrated
operation now underway in the province to quell rebellion there.

"Those who want to rejoin the republic will be awarded land
that they can cultivate and use to feed their families. We will
also give them seeds, fertilizer, farming equipment plus capital.
The state budget will cover the program," Samadi said.

Apart from the rewards, the local government pledged to
provide the rebels with training and guidance on how to farm.

The martial law administration in Aceh said nearly 200 members
of the separatist group had surrendered so far. The government
troops also claimed to have shot dead 240 rebels since the
operation commenced on May 19.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) Chief Gen, Endriartono Sutarto
has said the main target of the operation would no longer be
killing as many as rebels as possible, but to make them surrender
and recognize the Unitary State of Indonesia.

The military operation conducted between 1989 and 1998 had
failed to douse the armed struggle for independence in Aceh, but
claimed human losses that observers believe exceeded 10,000.

Samadi said his office would apply the program in different
ways, depending on the condition of the land where the repentant
GAM members were placed.

"For example we will suggest those who live in Pidie to
cultivate chili peppers, while those in Central Aceh should grow
potatoes," he said.

The local government has allocated 50,000 hectares of land for
the program.

"This program is specially for the rebels who give up their
independence cause and who happen to have an interest in
agriculture," Samadi said. He refused to disclose the budget for
the program.

He said the program would be advantageous for Aceh as a whole
as the province still had a sizable amount of land which remained
unexploited to improve its food sustainability.

"Agriculture in the province has been hampered as many farmers
have left their land unattended, particularly those who sought
refuge," Samadi said.

It remains unclear when the program could start, but Samadi
said it would take his office one or two months to train the
former rebels to begin cultivating their land.

Violence continued as the Aceh war entered its second month as
one person was killed and eight others injured when suspected
rebels fired at two cars on the Banda Aceh - Medan road in Pidie
district on Friday.

"The victims were treated at Zainal Abidin hospital in Sigli,
Pidie district," said Lt. Col. Firdaus Kumarno, deputy spokesman
for the martial law administrator.

Firdaus said the rebels also had set fire to three trucks
carrying rice for the poor in the district.

It was also reported that two buses traveling from Banda Aceh
to Lhokseumawe were shot at in Pante Raja area, about 200
kilometers west of Lhokseumawe.

Meanwhile, some 150 houses belonging to PT Patria Kamoa in
Gajah Muntah village, East Aceh district, were burnt by alleged
rebels on Thursday night.

Lt. Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki, spokesman for Operation Command,
claimed that on Friday some 250 GAM members set fire to the
houses of the company's employees.

According to him, besides burning the houses and other
facilities and the three trucks, the rebels looted the company's
property, including computers and diesel generators.

Basuki also said government troops were engaged in a shootout
with the rebels in the war-torn province, killing five rebels in
the past two days.