Military operation planned in troubled Aceh
JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon launch a military operation to stop the separatist movement in the troubled province of Aceh, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Saturday.
"No country solves its armed movement problems with a dialog," Yudhoyono said in Semarang after delivering a scientific oration at the University of 17 Augustus.
He said the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) had been waging a campaign of terror among the Acehnese with a series of killings, bombings and arson attacks.
"Our nation has to know, and the world also has to know, that whoever does not want peace and continues to launch a violent campaign must be stopped," he was quoted by Detikcom as saying.
But he said the government would still pursue negotiations with the separatist rebels.
Asked how the military would carry out its operation, he said: "We'll do it well and in such a way that it will not disturb efforts to improve the province's economy."
He said that in addition to the military operation, the government would simultaneously intensify its efforts to improve the economy and enforce law in the province.
On Friday, the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief, Lt. Gen. Ryamizad Ryacudu, said that GAM must be eliminated.
"In any country in the world, a rebel movement is eliminated. They (GAM) have been offered the chance for peace and reconciliation but they have rejected it. It means that they do not want peace," he said.
Commenting on his statements, the chief commander of Military Operations in Aceh, Brig. Gen. Zamroni, said there were two streams in the separatist movement: moderate members and hardliners.
"We can continue talks with the moderate camp. But we have to eliminate the hardliners as they only cause destabilization," he told The Jakarta Post.
Asked whether he was ready to mobilize troops to combat the separatist rebels, Zamroni said, "This is not open war. We're dealing with guerrilla warfare, and we've got to counter them with an antiguerrilla war tactic," he said.
"I think we have to pursue negotiations first with them before taking any drastic measures," he said.
Zamroni also confirmed on Saturday that Ibrahim Hasan, a suspect in the Jakarta Stock Exchange bombing, who escaped from Military Police detention on July 16, was arrested in Aceh on Aug. 16.
He said that Ibrahim Hasan, who told police his name was Zulkarnaen, was shot during a raid of GAM's base in Jungka Gajah, Murah Muria subdistrict, North Aceh. After crosschecking his data, the police discovered that he was Ibrahim Hasan, a former private from Kostrad.
However, GAM spokesman Sofyan Daud denied that Ibrahim Hasan was a member of the separatist movement. ""I don't know him. We have no relationship with him," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the chief of the East Aceh Police subprecinct, Gaguk Sumartono said six people were shot in Aceh on Friday, three of whom were members of GAM. (tso/bnt)