TNI ready to leave Aceh: Chief
TNI ready to leave Aceh: Chief
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on
Thursday the military was ready to pull out some 40,000 troops
from Aceh if an agreement was reached by the government and
rebels.
But he said than until an agreement was reached, the military
would continue to play its role in maintaining security across
the tsunami-devastated province. He also said soldiers would not
be ordered to stop fighting Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels.
"Of course, there should be some synchronization between
diplomatic moves and what is taking place on the ground. But the
rebels in the field continue to create disturbances in Aceh,
forcing us to crush them," Endriartono said after a meeting with
Malaysian armed forces chief Gen. Tan Sri Dato Seri Mohd. Zahidi
bin Hj. Zainuddin.
"Following the latest peace talks in Helsinki, the government
has yet to decide whether all of the points proposed there are
acceptable. Therefore, the process still has no effect on the
TNI," Endriartono said.
There was more violence in Aceh on Thursday despite the latest
round of peace talks.
A former rebel was shot dead early on Thursday after being
abducted from his home in Sawang, northern Aceh, by an armed gang
of suspected GAM rebels.
On Wednesday, government troops killed at least seven rebels
in a gunfight in Jeuleubeuh village, east of the town of
Peureulak.
The gunfight followed an attack by armed rebels on a military
outpost in Jeuleubeuh, local military spokesman Ari Mulya Asnawi
told AFP.
More than 12,000 people have been killed in the resource-rich
western province since GAM launched a campaign for independence
in 1976, accusing Jakarta of plundering the region's resources.
The conflict intensified in May, 2003, when a truce collapsed.
The TNI is believed to have played a role in persuading former
president Megawati Soekarnoputri to put Aceh under martial law.
The Dec. 26 tsunami, which killed more than 126,000 people in
Aceh, prompted the government and GAM to reopen a dialog.