Military kills GAM chief in gun battle

Military kills GAM chief in gun battle

Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

The Indonesian Military has shot dead the commander of the armed
wing of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Tengku Abdullah
Syafei, in a raid on his jungle headquarters, the military and
rebels announced on Wednesday.

Syafei, 46, was shot in the thigh and chest during a 30-minute
firefight with Army soldiers in Cubo, Pidie regency some 135
kilometers east of Banda Aceh on Tuesday morning.

Pidie District Military Chief Lt. Col. Supartodi said seven
people were killed in the gunfight, including one of Syafei's
wives, 50-year-old Aisyah Umar.

The bodies of both Abdullah and his wife were later identified
by their relatives at Sigli General Hospital on Wednesday
afternoon.

As of 6 p.m., thousands of anxious visitors, local figures and
journalists were still at the hospital, amid tight security,
hoping to view Syafei's body.

According to Syafei's family, his body will be laid to rest in
his home village in Matang Glumpang Dua in Bireun regency, 220
kilometers east of Banda Aceh.

The death of the charismatic Syafei is likely to be a serious
blow to the separatist group, which has been under severe
pressure since President Megawati Soekarnoputri flatly rejected
demands for independence and ordered a crackdown shortly after
assuming office in July.

Sounding rather despondent on Wednesday, GAM spokesman Sofyan
Dawod said he was not sure that Syafei was killed. "The odds are
50-50. There are too many security officers around us to check,"
he said, declining to comment further.

The raid was launched on Tuesday morning at about 9 a.m. after
the military received a tipoff about the rebel base in Cubo.

Supartodi said one of Syafei's armed rebels managed to escape
during the 30-minute battle.

He said the military seized a satellite phone, three AK-47
automatic rifles, an FN-Minimi submachine gun and reading glasses
believed to belong to Syafei.

Syafei's death came days after Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh
invited him for peace talks. But rebels on Wednesday rejected the
invitation.

"GAM has never considered the idea of having a dialog with the
representatives of the Indonesian government in Aceh. GAM will
only agree to hold a dialog between equals, namely at the level
of national leadership," its chief spokesman Teungku Isnandar
said in a press statement.

Syafei entered the limelight as a rebel leader and commander
of GAM's armed wing in 1998.

The last time Syafei appeared in public was at GAM's 24th
anniversary on Dec. 4, 2000 in the Jeunib area of Bireun regency.

In an interview in November 1999, he said that he joined GAM
on Dec. 3, 1976, just a day before its establishment was declared
by top GAM leader Hasan Tiro on Mount Halimun, Bukit Barisan, in
Pidie. Tiro now lives in exile in Sweden.

The media had not interviewed Syafei for about one year,
apparently due to tight security measures and surveillance of
separatists. He made statements only through a spokesman.

"It is impossible for journalists to enter certain villages to
interview rebel leaders without being spotted by security forces.
Besides, we also think that Abdullah Syafei's forces were
cornered so he had to be very careful because media coverage
could have easily led government forces to them," said a local
journalist who has interviewed the GAM military chief previously.

Speculation concerning Syafei's role in unrest in Aceh raised
questions about his true objective. Some claimed he was planted
by the central government to create further instability in the
area.

Analysts further say that Syafei probably disappeared from
public view because he had been ousted in a coup by GAM splinter
groups.