Only 35 percent of GAM forces destroyed so far

Only 35 percent of GAM forces destroyed so far

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With more than 35,000 troops on the ground, Jakarta has only
managed to incapacitate 35 percent of Aceh's 5,000-strong rebel
force so far, more than three months after the joint operation
was launched on May 19.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday that government troops
had also only seized about 15 percent of the weapons possessed by
the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Initial military estimates put the number of weapons owned by
GAM at slightly over 2,000.

Military leaders claimed earlier that government troops had
taken full control of the country's westernmost province, where
GAM rebels have been fighting for independence for the resource-
rich province since 1976. More than 10,000 people, mostly
civilians, have been killed since then.

Susilo, a retired four-star Army general, said Wednesday that
at least 761 rebels had been killed and 546 others injured in
armed clashes with government troops since May 19, when the
government launched the "joint operation", which was supposed to
have included a humanitarian operation, security operation, and
law enforcement drive.

On the government side, at least 46 soldiers and 13 police
personnel had died, he said.

He also said that some 460 rebels had been arrested and were
now undergoing police and military interrogation, or were being
readied to face trial.

"It means we have incapacitated 1,767 of the approximately
5,000 GAM rebels," Susilo told reporters.

"I have instructed the Aceh martial law administrator to
continue intensifying the pressure on the rebels, and to target
GAM leaders," he said.

The security forces in Aceh had also confiscated 339 weapons
and 335 homemade bombs.

Susilo further stressed that Jakarta would not withdraw its
troops from the war-torn province even after the expiry of the
six-month deadline set for the end of the military offensive.

Entering the fourth month of the military campaign in Aceh,
the TNI claimed that it was now intensifying intelligence efforts
targeted at GAM leaders.

On Tuesday, the military bombarded several locations with
rockets and bombs dropped from U.S.-made F-16 Fighting Falcons
and OV-10 Broncos.

Susilo brushed aside the possibility of talks with the rebels,
saying that GAM had only one option -- surrender to the
government.

"For the government, there will be no more dialog. We have
finalized the issue of the unitary state, offered the province
special autonomy status and asked GAM rebels to put down their
weapons.

"The United Nations has assured us that it would not support
the establishment of Aceh as an independent state," Susilo told
reporters after chairing a meeting on political and security
affairs that discussed various issues, including Aceh.

Facilitated by the Switzerland-based Henry Dunant Centre
(HDC), the government and GAM agreed on a peace deal in December
last year, which, among other things, offered special autonomy to
the country's second richest province after Papua in terms of
natural resources, as well as the imposition of a modified form
of sharia.

The agreement also said that GAM would lay down its weapons in
stages.

But when the accord collapsed, Jakarta declared martial war in
the province and sent thousands of troops there in an attempt to
crush GAM, despite protests from rights activists who feared that
the Jakarta was intent on repeating the sort of widespread rights
violations that occurred when the province was designated a
military operations zone (DOM) from 1989 through 1999.