Mega still hoping for peace

Mega still hoping for peace

Agencies, Tokyo

President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Monday said she is still
hoping for a negotiated settlement of the separatist war in Aceh
province but will push ahead with a military campaign to maintain
Indonesia's territorial integrity.

In a speech at the Japan National Press Club, Megawati
emphasized her government's determination to oppose any
challenges to the territorial unity of Indonesia, the world's
fourth-most populous nation.

"We are holding out hope for a peaceful resolution through
dialog," she said, speaking through a Japanese interpreter. "But
the Constitution makes clear that Indonesia is a unitary state,
and it is unacceptable that any people should aim for an
arrangement contrary to that."

Megawati imposed martial law in Aceh and ordered troops into
action in the province after talks to salvage a five-month-old
peace deal failed in Tokyo on May 18. The Indonesian government
has offered autonomy to the province but accused the rebels of
using the peace deal to rearm in pursuit of their separatist
struggle.

Indonesia has sent 30,000 troops to the natural resource rich
province to fight an estimate 5,000 Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
rebels in what is expected to be Indonesia's biggest military
deployment since the operation in East Timor in 1975.

Megawati said the military operation was supposed to last for
five more months "but I hope it will end as soon as possible."

She argued it would be "ideal" to settle the Aceh conflict
peacefully but called on the world to understand there were
"limitations" to this approach.

Demands for the government to stop the offensive and return to
negotiating table are quite unpopular at home, except persistent
pressure from human rights groups who said the military operation
was prone to unchecked human rights violations, undermining
democracy and failing to protect civilians.

The National Police announced on Monday that 124 civilians had
been killed, 67 injured and 61 others had gone missing since the
imposition of martial law in Aceh.

Muhammadiyah chairman Ahmad Sjafii Maarif is one of a few
antiwar protagonists from the religious community who has
persistently called on the government to put an end to the war
and reopen dialog with the separatists.

He warned the government against using national integrity as
the pretext for the offensive on Aceh, saying it would only mean
oppression for most of the people in the province.

The last military operation in Aceh between 1989 and 1998 is
believed to have resulted in the deaths of over 10,000 civilians.

Megawati arrived in Tokyo on Sunday for a four-day visit that
may include talks on a possible free-trade accord and Japanese
help in curbing rampant illegal logging in Indonesia, officials
said.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was expected to
express his concern over the resumption of hostilities in Aceh
and reiterate Japan's readiness to help play peacemaker when the
two leaders meet Tuesday, according to media reports.

A group of international donors, including Japan, the United
States and the European Union, were preparing a rehabilitation
package for post-war Aceh.

Megawati said her government was pursuing a "comprehensive
strategy" in Aceh that included economic projects "for the
benefit of the people" as well as military operations.

They included programs to ensure that revenues generated by
the province were used to promote local development, said
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti,
who was among Indonesian ministers visiting Tokyo with Megawati.

In Aceh, separatist rebels killed a local police chief and two
civil servants, the military said.

In a separate incident, five Mobile Brigade paramilitary
policemen were wounded when their truck went over a homemade bomb
in Pidie district on Sunday, spokesman for the military operation
Lt. Col. Achmad Yani Basuki added.

He said Darisman, chief of police in North Aceh's Blang Mangat
subdistrict, was shot dead Monday by two GAM members as he rode a
motorcycle. The rebels stole his handgun after the shooting.