TNI rejects cease-fire demand

TNI rejects cease-fire demand

Tiarma Siboro
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The Indonesian Military (TNI) rejected a cease-fire demand
from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), and said it would continue to
crush the rebel group until they fully surrender their arms.

"We (the military) have been asked (by the government) to
share ideas about the ongoing peace talks with the GAM
leadership. We, indeed, support the peace process, but stress
that there will be no cease-fire agreement," TNI chief Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto said on Wednesday.

"If GAM has the intention of discontinuing its secessionist
activities, they should surrender their weapons," Endriartono
said. "In the past they have always used cease-fires to
consolidate themselves," he added.

The four-star general further said that the proposed
involvement of a foreign monitoring team in the peace process in
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam should be aimed at observing GAM members
in surrendering their weapons and ensure that they obtain amnesty
from the government.

Endriartono stated his stance during a special hearing at the
TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, involving military
top brass and lawmakers grouped in a working commission on
security and defense.

The lawmakers were, among others, Hepi Bone Zulkarnaen from
the Golkar Party, Effendi M.S. Simbolon from the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Soeripto, a former
intelligence officer and a politician from the Justice and
Prosperous Party (PKS).

During the hearing, the TNI displayed GAM's weaponry and
attributes including GAM's crescent-and-star flags, uniforms and
documents, which had been seized by troops during the two-year
military campaign.

Endriartono also said that no less than 3,300 GAM fighters had
been killed since the military launched a major campaign to crush
the decades-long insurgency in May 2003.

Announcing the figures, Endriartono said the military
offensive would continue against the insurgents despite ongoing
peace talks because "GAM still exists."

"Today their strength is estimated to be between 1,200 and
1,500 people, with 500 firearms," he said.

At the start of the campaign, the military put the number of
GAM rebels at around 6,000, a figure that rose to as many as
10,000 equipped with about 3,500 firearms during martial law,
Endriartono claimed.

Endriartono's remarks may not help the ongoing peace talks
between GAM leaders and government negotiators in Finland.

A member of the GAM delegation team, Mohammed Nur Djuli,
simply responded by saying, "They are losing the chance to keep
Indonesian intact."

GAM has waged a guerrilla war since 1976, accusing Jakarta of
exploiting the impoverished province's rich resources. More than
12,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since then.

The exiled GAM leadership has been pushing for the government
to reciprocate a cease-fire offer at the current peace talks,
which were revived following last year's tsunami disaster, which
claimed 128,000 lives in Aceh alone.

The Helsinki talks, set to resume in July, were dealt another
blow late on Tuesday when Coordinating Minister for Political and
Security Affairs Widodo AS said a key demand by the rebels for
political representation was unacceptable.

The Indonesian Military launched a major offensive to crush
GAM's independence struggle in May 2003 following the collapse of
previous peace talks.