Tripoli agrees to help RI fight rebels: Mega
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Tripoli/Banda Aceh
Libya expressed on Saturday its support for Indonesia's territorial integrity and promised to assist Jakarta in its efforts to put an end to the separatist movement in Aceh.
After meeting with Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi, President Megawati Soekarnoputri said the North African state would take any measures necessary to ensure that Indonesia maintained its sovereignty over the natural resource-rich province.
"He (Qaddafi) said Libya would try to search for suspected Aceh rebels who had reportedly undergone military training here," Megawati said.
"According to him there was no such military training sponsored by the Libyan government for any separatist group."
Quoting Qaddafi, Megawati said the Libyan government had once required university students, including foreigners, to undergo a self-defense drill in anticipation of any strike by foreign forces.
Libya was subject to a U.S. air strike in 1986, which targeted Qaddafi. The Libyan leader survived, but his adopted daughter was among those killed.
Megawati told Qaddafi during their closed-door talks of the Indonesian government's decision to launch a major offensive against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on May 19 after a six-month cease-fire had broken down.
"In principle, Libya throws its weight behind the unitary state of Indonesia and will not assist any separatist movement in Indonesia," Megawati said.
Many GAM leaders reportedly underwent military training in Libya in the 1980s. The group has been waging a separatist campaign since 1976.
In Aceh, the local immigration office released on Saturday an Australian couple after detaining them when their sailboat ran aground in a storm in the war-ravaged province.
The couple, Humphrey Jones, 57, and his wife Claire Susan Jones, 58, will be allowed to continue their journey on Sunday with an escort from the Indonesian Navy and Water Police.
An immigration official, Imron Zubandi, said the office found that no offense had been committed by the Australians.
"After we questioned them and read the report of their interrogation by the military, we decided to release them; they had not violated any law," Imron said.
"They had never planned to enter Aceh territory. They were just stranded, as well as seeking safety and searching for fuel."
The couple was detained on Thursday on Nasi island, just north of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, after they sailed ashore to seek refuge from a storm.
Imron said everything was alright with the couple, except that Claire Jones was observed to weep several times. Imron said the woman was probably in shock as they had both been detained.
Spokesman for the martial law administration Col. Ditya Soedarsono said the Australians would be escorted by the Navy and Water Police as far as the port of Ulee Lheue before they continued their journey toward the Maldives.
Tourists are currently banned from visiting Aceh. Journalists and aid workers require special permission to travel there.
Meanwhile, prosecutors in the trial of GAM negotiators demanded a 16-year jail sentence for defendant Teuku Kamaruzzaman.
The 42-year-old man ought to face a term similar to that of his four GAM negotiator colleagues, who were charged with treason and terrorism, prosecutor Ohara Pudjo told the Banda Aceh District Court, as quoted by AFP.
The maximum penalty for terrorism is death.