INDONESIA: INDONESIA ARMY CONTINUES HUNT FOR GAMB REBELS

Record ID: 673878

  • Title: INDONESIA: INDONESIA ARMY CONTINUES HUNT FOR GAMB REBELS
  • Date: 25th May 2003
  • Summary: (W3) ACEH BESAR DISTRICT, ACEH PROVINCE, INDONESIA (MAY 26, 2003) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TROOPS AND POLICE MOBILE BRIGADE ON PATROL VARIOUS OF TROOPS AND POLICE CHECKING HOUSES (4 SHOTS) VARIOUS, TROOPS WALKING PAST FELLED TREES AND BRANCHES BLOCKING ROAD (2 SHOTS) (W3) ULEE LHUE PORT, BANDA ACEH, ACEH PROVINCE, INDONESIA (MAY 25, 2003) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BOAT CARRYING RE
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ACEH BESAR DISTRICT AND BANDA ACEH, ACEH PROVINCE, INDONESIA / ACEH BESAR REGENCY AND SARE, SIGLI REGENCY, ACEH PROVINCE
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Conflict,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAH1DI76C1DC0QAQ40YGYHYEDM
  • Story Text: The Indonesian military has continued its hunt for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels as the offensive against separatists moves into its second week. The Indonesian government has sought to reassure frightened civilians in Aceh by pledging to protect buses and ensure regular food supplies after ambushes on trucks and other transport.
    The latest military count of casualties in the offensive on Monday (May 26) has risen to 68 Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels killed, and included the deaths of two of its own soldiers as well as five civilians.
    Nine suspected rebels were captured on Sunday (May 25) on the Nasi Island off the coast of capital Banda Aceh. They were taken to a command post at Ulee Lhue Port for questioning.
    GAM says scores of civilians and hundreds of government soldiers have died.
    Confirmation of the varying claims is difficult but correspondents in Aceh say they do not know of any evidence that would support GAM's count.
    The government has 45,000 troops and police pitted against about 5,000 rebels. Jakarta hopes for victory in six months, but the rebels have historically taken advantage of Aceh's rugged, jungle-clad terrain.
    Despite fewer reported cases of arson, a shopping complex in Banda Aceh was destroyed by an overnight fire. Some 200 schools and government building have been torched since the military campaign began.
    GAM has denied burning schools, but the military said captured rebels had revealed a plan to carry out a scorched-earth campaign that included torching schools and government buildings.
    The government offensive followed the collapse of last-ditch talks to rescue a five-month ceasefire.
    Indonesia declared martial law and attacked the rebels last week after a five-month peace agreement collapsed.
    Officials say at least 23,000 civilians have fled their homes in the province, which is rich in gas and oil.
    The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian crisis and relief agencies have so far been confined to capital Banda Aceh due to security reasons.
    Fears of worsening food shortages are growing as the government military offensive moved into its second week.
    Deliveries of food supplies are increasingly rare because attacks on traffic and burning of vehicles, blamed by the military on separatists, have stifled transport.
    The Indonesian military and police have started to protect trucks and buses in districts where some of the heaviest fighting in the province of four million people has taken place.
    A convoy of some 25 lorries and mini-vansleft Aceh's provincial capital Banda Aceh for Medan under armed military escort on Monday (May 26).
    The min-vans were stuffed with passengers while the lorries were due to bring back such staples as vegetables, cooking oil, eggs and cigarettes.
    "I need to go back to my hometown, Kuala Simpang, but plane tickets are all fully-booked, there are no passenger ships running so I've been waiting forever until today," said one of the passenger, Leli whose hometown is located near the North Sumatra border.
    Meanwhile, traders and residents in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh fretted about shortages, saying some prices were soaring.
    "Prices go up basically because there is no transportation running," explained Iqbal, a trader at a Banda Aceh market.
    More than 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in a 27-year war in Aceh, one of two separatist hotspots in the sprawling archipelago. Papua province in the far east is the other.
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