Military operation planned in troubled Aceh

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)