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)