Troops readied for security operation in troubled Aceh

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.