TNI ready to pull out more troops

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: The military (TNI) is planning to pull out 10 battalions of soldiers (some 6,000 personnel) recruited outside Aceh from the province, a senior TNI officer said on Wednesday.

The pullout would take place between Oct. 18 and Oct. 24 provided that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) handed over its weapons to the Aceh Monitoring Group (AMM) as scheduled between Oct. 14 and Oct. 17 throughout Aceh, said chief of operations of the Iskandar Muda Command in Aceh, Maj. Gen. Supiadin A.S.

According to the plan drawn up after the Helsinki Peace Agreement on August 15, GAM is due to hand over a further 25 percent of their some 800 weapons to the AMM. GAM surrendered some 200 weapons to the AMM last month during the first stage of the disarmament process, and most of these weapons have already been destroyed. -- Antara