TNI to proceed with deployment of troops in Aceh

TNI to proceed with deployment of troops in Aceh

BATUJAJAR, Bandung, West Java (JP): While suggesting that
dialog between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
should continue, the Indonesian Military (TNI) have decided to
send troops to the strife-torn province of Aceh.

TNI chief Adm. Widodo A.S. announced on Friday that eleven
companies of Rajawali (Hawk) II Team troops will fly to the
province in stages on Sunday and Monday from the Husein
Sastranegara Air Base.

"The security condition in Aceh still requires the presence of
TNI troops. But as the government still imposes civilian order
their presence there is to assist National Police in restoring
security.

"The dispatch of TNI troops, however, will not close the
opportunity to hold dialog with the armed rebels there as the
security operation is part of the government's comprehensive
policy on Aceh," Widodo told a media conference after briefing
troops at the Army's Special Force (Kopassus) Education Center in
Batujajar.

He was referring to a statement by Coordinating Minister for
Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
earlier this week that the government has planned to invite GAM
to the meeting table for talks as an effort to settle the
problems in Aceh.

During the briefing, Widodo was accompanied by 33 generals
from the three military forces, including Air Force chief
Marshall Hanafie Asnan, Army chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto,
deputy Navy chief Vice Adm. Fred S. Lonan, Army's Strategic
Reserves Command (Kostrad) chief Lt. Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu, West
Java's Siliwangi Military Commander Maj. Gen. Zainuri, chief of
the Bukit Barisan Military Command overseeing Aceh. North
Sumatra, West Sumatra and Riau provinces, Maj. Gen. I.G. Purnawa,
and Kopassus's deputy chief Brig. Gen. Sriyanto.

Widodo said Presidential decree (Inpres) No. IV/2001 on
efforts to restore law and order in Aceh was a political umbrella
for the TNI to perform their duties there, so that the TNI "would
not have to ask the government to impose the military emergency
status in Aceh.

"I have just asked my boys to perform their duties
professionally. I have also asked them to ensure that they are
there to create peace not to make war with innocent people,"
Widodo said, adding that the operation will last for six months,
before being evaluated on whether it should be continued or
stopped.

The Rajawali troops have been selected from Kostrad's second
division in Malang, East Java, as well as Siliwangi Military
Command and Jakarta Military Command. Some of them have also been
recruited from Central Java's Diponegoro Military Command's crack
troops, the Banteng (wild bull) Raiders, the Air Force's special
force Paskhas, the Navy's marines, and the military police.

The team is led by Director of Military Education and Training
Command (Kodiklat) Brig. Gen. Zamroni, a 1975 Military Academy
graduate and former deputy Kopassus chief. The team will be
attached to the Bukit Barisan Military Command.

General Purnawa said the troops will be deployed at four
critical regencies: North Aceh, East Aceh, Bireun, and Pidie.

In a related development, East Java's Brawijaya Military
Command chief of staff Brig. Gen. Djoko Setijono sent on Friday
650 troops of the 516/Caraka Yudha Infantry Battalion from the
Surabaya-based Navy's Eastern Fleet headquarters to join the
operation for restoring order and fighting separatists in restive
Aceh province.

Back in Aceh, GAM commander Tengku Abdullah Syafiie warned
that his forces would fight back hard if Indonesian troops
intensified a security crackdown against separatists.

"This decision was a terrible mistake and the government will
suffer for it," Abdullah told The Jakarta Post's correspondent at
his hideout in restive Pidie regency on Thursday.

Abdullah further threatened that "the more troops they send to
Aceh, the more they will be returned as sacks of clothes. We
cannot let them kill our people."

In the latest outbreak of violence, four people were killed in
separate incidents in South Aceh, East Aceh and West Aceh on
Thursday, an official told the Post by phone from Banda Aceh.
(02/25/50/51/edt)