INDONESIA: SECURITY TIGHT IN BANDA ACEH AS INTERNATIONAL PEACE MONITORS LEAVE /GOVERNMENT SAYS SENIOR REBEL LEADER DEFECTS

Record ID: 350432

  • Title: INDONESIA: SECURITY TIGHT IN BANDA ACEH AS INTERNATIONAL PEACE MONITORS LEAVE /GOVERNMENT SAYS SENIOR REBEL LEADER DEFECTS
  • Date: 11th May 2003
  • Summary: (W3) BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA (MAY 12, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF BUILDING 0.03 2. SLV SECURITY AND APC 0.07 3. VARIOUS JSC (JOINT SECURITY COMMITTEE) MEMBERS WITH LUGGAGE PREPARING TO LEAVE BUILDING ( 3 SHOTS) 0.18 4. SLV OF JSC VEHICLE 0.23 5. SLV OF POLICE VEHICLE 0.28 6. SLV JSC MEMBERS WALKING TOWARDS BUS 0.34 7. SMV JSC MEMBERS BOARDING BUS FOR AIRPORT 0.46 8. SCU JSC MEMBER SEATED ON BUS 0.51 9. SLV BUS AND SECURITY 0.56 (W3) BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA MAY 13, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 10. VARIOUS, SOLDIERS AROUND APC (3 SHOTS) 1.11 11. SLV ARMED SOLDIERS SEATED ON WALL 1.15 12. WIDE OF INDONESIAN APC'S AND TANKS PATROLLING THE STREETS 1.19 13. WIDE OF TRAFFIC AND SOLDIERS IN APC ON STREET 1.26 14. VARIOUS, SOLDIERS ON PATROL (2 SHOTS) 1.35 15. SLV TRUCK WITH SOLDIERS DRIVING ALONG ROAD 1.40 16. VARIOUS VIEWS OF MARKET/ MARKET TRADERS (2 SHOTS) 1.54 17. SLV MAN WITH BICYCLE RICKSHAW AND PASSENGERS 2.07 18. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(Bahasa) MARKET VENDOR ASMAIL HUSNA SAYING "I am afraid because if there is a military operation business will be bad and what about my family." 2.16 19. VARIOUS, ,MARKET TRADERS (2 SHOTS) 2.23 (W3) BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA MAY 11, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 20. VARIOUS OF GAM LEADER AMRI BIN ABDUL WAHAB IN JSC VEHICLE (7 SHOTS) 2.42 21. SCU AMRI BIN ABDUL WAHAB IN VEHICLE 2.47 22. SLV JSC VEHICLE 2.53 23. SMV AMRI GETTING OUT OF VEHICLE AND WALKING INTO BUILDING 3.02 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th May 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BANDA ACEH, ACEH PROVINCE, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVADP6BQEU9V2XEC1HDS45577FSI
  • Story Text: Dozens of international peace monitors left the
    province with the threat of renewed violence imminent.

    Security is tight in the Acehnese capital Banda Aceh after
    the deadline for Aceh rebels to resume talks with Jakarta
    officials or face a major military operation passed midnight
    Monday.



    Jakarta said overnight Monday (May 12) that it would
    take military action after its deadline for rebels to hold
    fresh talks to iron out growing differences between the two
    sides ran out. President Megawati Sukarnoputri will decide the
    timing in the next few days.

    Members of the Joint Secuity Commitee (JSC) set up to
    facilitate negotiations between the Indonesian military and
    the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) had left the city on Monday (May
    12).

    Indonesia has sent thousands of reinforcements to Aceh in
    recent days bringing the total number of security personnel to
    nearly 40,000.

    On Tuesday in Banda Aceh hundreds of security forces were
    on the streets patrolling in APC'S and tanks.

    In the local markets it was a business as usual for many
    but the threat of all out war is causing some concern.

    "I am afraid because if there is a military operation
    business will be bad and what about my family." said vendor
    Asmail Husna.

    On Tuesday Indonesian officials announced that Amri bin
    Abdul Wahab, a senior rebel commander in Aceh province had
    defected.

    In Jakarta, armed forces chief General Endriartono Sutarto
    said Wahab surrendered on Monday to authorities in Banda Aceh.

    It is rare for senior leaders of the Free Aceh Movement
    (GAM), which has been fighting for independence for decades on
    the northern tip of Sumatra island, to defect.

    Wahab has been in Banda Aceh as part of a joint team
    overseeing the five-month-old peace pact. International
    monitors attached to that team have pulled out.

    A GAM rebel spokesman, Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, denied the
    government claim, saying Wahab, one of several regional
    separatist commanders, had been kidnapped in the local capital
    Banda Aceh.

    The peace pact called for GAM to start laying down its
    arms and the military to withdraw to defensive positions, and
    initially sharply reduced violence.

    But recently it has been increasingly troubled, with each
    side accusing the other of violations.

    Decades of simmering conflict between the Jakarta-based
    government and GAM have left more than 10,000 dead in
    resource-rich Aceh, most civilians.



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