TNI to send thousands more troops to Aceh

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.