Troops readied for security operation in troubled Aceh

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

At least two battalions of marines and 6,000 members of the feared Mobile Brigade (Brimob) have been told to stand by for a possible security operation in Aceh should the April 25 Joint Council meeting fail to salvage the peace agreement signed last year.

On top of that, 654 marines grouped in the Rencong Sakti task force will be dispatched to Aceh on May 9 to replace the Rajawali task force that has been stationed there for the past one year.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Tuesday that the government had to prepare for the worst in talking to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Geneva, Switzerland, later this week.

"We have to anticipate the worst-case scenario should our efforts to promote dialog bear no fruit," Susilo said when inspecting the troops at the Marine Corps headquarters in Cilandak, South Jakarta.

He was accompanied by Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil and Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh.

Susilo said the inspection was held to ensure that the government was providing soldiers with both moral and logistical support should they be deployed to Aceh to maintain the integrity of the state.

"I, on behalf of the government, convey to you that we have decided to pursue a peaceful solution to the Aceh issue. The House of Representatives has also recommended us to do this. But, of course, it is impossible for us clap with one hand," said Susilo referring to the rebels' persistence in fight for the independence of Aceh, a resource-rich province at the northern tip of Sumatra.

Susilo's statement came just two days after President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who by law is the Supreme Commander of the Indonesian Military (TNI), ruled out any military operation in Aceh should the peace talks hit a snag.

Megawati, who is on a ten-day trip to Rumania, Russia and Poland, told the Indonesian community in Bucharest last Sunday that the government was preparing a contingency plan rather than a full-scale military operation.

The government and GAM signed a peace deal on Dec. 9 last year, under which both sides agreed to end all hostilities in the province, where armed conflict between government troops and GAM rebels has killed over 10,000 people, mostly civilians.

GAM also accepted the special autonomy status as the sole basis for future peace talks and agreed to lay down its arms in stages until they are fully disarmed by July 9, 2003.

The government, on the other hand, agreed to halt all military operations and reposition its troops from striking to defensive positions. It also agreed to retrain Brimob personnel to assume the normal functions of the police as a law enforcement agency.

Both parties, however, had failed to stick to their promises, and agreed to return to the negotiating table to resolve the violations.

The two battalions ordered to stand by come from Jakarta and Surabaya in East Java respectively, while the Brimob members would come from the units headquarters in Kelapa Dua in Depok, West Java. One battalion consists of 650 personnel.

Currently, there are more than 26,000 troops posted in Aceh, backed up some 14,000 police personnel.

Iskandar Muda (Aceh) Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djali Yusuf said earlier that he needed at least 50,000 troops to stamp out the 5,000-strong rebel movement from Aceh.

Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh said on Tuesday that he was also preparing between 14 and 17 warships to be sent to Aceh to back up any military operation.

Earlier, the Navy sent two of its three new warships, the KRI Lemadang and KRI Anakonda, to the troubled province, to join 10 ships already stationed there.

Later in the day, Susilo also visited Brimob headquarters in Kelapa Dua to inspect some 6,000 police personnel to be sent to Aceh as reinforcements.