Aceh braces for crackdown

By Atika Shubert, CNN Correspondent

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Acehnese are bracing for a new offensive by the Indonesian military.

After months of fruitless negotiations with the separatist Free Aceh Movement, known locally as GAM, the Indonesian government is giving free reign to the military to root out separatism.

"The government has already ruled that GAM is a separatist movement and in legal terms it is of a subversive nature," Defense Minister Muhammad Mahfud told reporters, "Security operations will be immediately conducted there."

Local NGOs fear the real victims won't be GAM but Acehnese civilians.

The Indonesian military has an extremely poor track record in Aceh.

Thousands have been killed since GAM unsuccessfully declared independence for the resource-rich province in the 70's, leaving a trail of orphans and widows in its wake.

Last year, GAM and the government signed a "humanitarian pause" designed to ease the violence, hoping to give Aceh's civilian leaders breathing room to devise a political solution. It didn't work. More than 200 people have been killed since the beginning of the year.

Acehnese doubts

The military blames the deaths on GAM sympathizers.

Local human rights groups say both sides are committing atrocities and that civilians are getting caught in the crossfire.

Military commanders are promising a new kind of soldier for its anti-separatist campaign.

Army Chief of Staff General Endriartono Sutarto says that specially trained "anti-guerilla" groups will be sent in to target GAM and not civilians.

"I told these soldiers that they have to win every battle. They must uphold the law, however, in order to avoid human rights abuses." General Endriartono told reporters.

Acehnese are skeptical.

The "anti-guerilla" troops are trained by Indonesia's notorious Special Forces, or Kopassus, accused by local NGOs of committing some of the worst human rights violations from politically motivated kidnappings to torture.

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Aceh Development Foundation
Free Aceh Movement
Kongres Raykat Aceh (in Indonesian)
Political history of Aceh
AboutAceh.net

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