TNI to send thousands more troops to Aceh

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian Military (TNI) said on Thursday it would send thousands of more soldiers to tsunami-ravaged Aceh, with the initial focus on cleaning up debris.

TNI Spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin did not disclose the time-frame of the troop deployment, but said that the move would bring the total number of troops to more than 45,000.

"The deployment of thousands of troops is to help clean the towns, retrieve bodies, and later rehabilitation and reconstruction," Sjafrie said as quoted by AFP.

The decision to deploy more soldiers followed a Cabinet meeting earlier this week after which the government said it wanted to take over the relief operation in Aceh from the foreigners as soon as possible.

During the meeting, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said all resources should be focused on the burial of many bodies.

The government has also told foreign armies, who have been a life-saver for many Acehnese, to leave the country as soon as they could.

"A three-month period is long enough. In fact, the sooner the better," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Thursday.

The armed forces of Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States all rushed large contingents of men and materiel to Aceh after the Dec. 26 disaster.

But the TNI's role in Aceh has become the focus of international attention during recent days after it decided to impose tough restrictions against the thousands of foreigners, including mandatory armed escorts and clearance for all movement outside Banda Aceh. The TNI claims that there is a threat from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

The new policy has irked some aid workers, who said it would hinder the distribution of crucial aid to refugees.

GAM, which has been struggling for independence since 1976, has repeatedly insisted that they would not put foreign aid workers in danger.

The TNI launched a massive offensive against the rebels in May 2003 and banned most foreigners from Aceh in a bid to avoid international scrutiny. Over the last 20 months, the TNI has maintained troop levels in Aceh at more than 30,000 to fight GAM, whose number has been estimated to be around 2,000 at present. Some 12,000 TNI troops in Aceh have been assigned to relief operations, according to a military source.

Despite that, the government was forced to open Aceh to foreign troops and aid workers following the devastating tsunami.