Monitoring team to arrive in Aceh

JAKARTA: A government monitoring team for Aceh will leave for the ravaged province next week to check up on the implementation martial law, an official said here Monday.

"The government-sanctioned monitoring team will likely arrive in Aceh next week and carry out their tasks until the end of the second military operation," the secretary to the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Sudi Silalahi, said, in reference to the second 6-month mandate for martial law.

It will end on May 19 this year.

The 23-member team is tasked with checking on the flow of state funds used in the operation and the distribution of humanitarian assistance for the Acehnese.

Meanwhile, five members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels group have surrendered to the Indonesian Military since Saturday. The rebels included three GAM leaders, according to martial law spokesperson Lt. Col. Asep Safari. -- Antara