Indonesia's military claims it now controls all of Aceh province, six weeks after imposing martial law to crush separatist rebels. But local human rights groups are counting the civilian cost of the war... saying as many as 35-thousand Acehenese have fled their homes and hundreds more have been killed in attacks and air raids.

Presenter/Interviewer: Tricia Fitzgerald

John Aglionby, Jakarta – Separatists in the Indonesian province of Aceh yesterday dismissed military claims that Jakarta had taken control of the whole province and vowed to continue fighting until they get their freedom.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Director General of Foreign Trade Sudar yesterday said the purchase of Russian-made jet fighters and helicopters was free from collusive practices.

"I am responsible for that," he said after a meeting with the House of Representatives' working committee tasked to look into the purchase.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Following increasing allegations of torture and civilian deaths, the Army withdrew on Wednesday 98 of its 158 elite Special Force (Kopassus) and Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) soldiers deployed to crack down on separatists in Papua.

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Nothing was as usual on Wednesday at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta), located at Jl. Mendut No. 1 in Central Jakarta, which used to be crowded with justice seekers and activists throughout the day.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Experts criticized President Soekarnoputri on Wednesday for supporting the establishment of citizens' defense groups, saying that such moves would only heighten fanaticism and the culture of violence in society.

Moch. N Kurniawan, Jakarta – Public outrage is increasing over the government's move to allow mining in conservation forests in Sulawesi and Kalimantan.

Jakarta – The most senior Indonesian military officer indicted by Jakarta's special tribunal for the violence in East Timor in 1999, Major-General Adam Damiri, made a heartfelt plea this week for mercy from the five judges trying his case. The verdict is to be announced on August 5.

Jakarta – A five-year jail term given to a prominent activist in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh was harsh and heightens the "apparent intimidation" of those trying to monitor rights abuses in the province, the US government said.

Richard Norton-Taylor, London – The value of British arms cleared for export to Indonesia rose from 2 million Pounds in 2000 ($A4.9 million) to more than 40 million Pounds last year, a 20-fold increase.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Amid the military operation to crush the separatist movement in Aceh, the government has begun to screen a total of around 67,000 civil servants in Aceh to ensure their loyalty to the Unitary Republic of Indonesia.

A'an Suryana, Lhokseumawe – The court martial of three soldiers for the rape of four women in Aceh will start on Friday, a court official in the North Aceh town of Lhokseumawe said on Wednesday.

Jakarta – Indonesia's military claimed control over the whole of Aceh province yesterday, six weeks after it launched a huge operation to crush separatist rebels.

Jakarta – Indonesian police yesterday warned of fresh terrorist attacks in the country after disclosing that key suspects are still in the country and are seeking funds for another bombing.

Ethnic violence has broken out again in West Kalimantan province, while hundreds of people in South Sulawesi province have run amok during a protest demanding the creation of a new province.

The new UN police chief in East Timor says one of her top priorities is to provide training to the local police force to take over policing of the young nation. UNPOL Commissioner Sandra Peisley is an Australian, who formerly served with the Australian Federal Police.

Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam

Indonesian's top security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is reportedly preferred over incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri as the country's next president.

According to a poll conducted by the Centre for the Study of Development and Democracy ,13 percent of 3,000 respondents in 13 provinces have picked Mr Yudhoyono. Mrs Megawati trails in second place with seven percent.

Jill Jolliffe, Dili – A United Nations official has confirmed that an investigation is under way in East Timor into prostitution and allegations of human trafficking. The probe follows claims by the Portuguese newspaper Expresso of a growing problem involving UN staff.

Makassar – Hundreds of East Timorese, currently under the care of the Al Anshar Foundation here, and other refugees and students have refused to go back to East Timor.

Jakarta – The number of students taking the 2003 state university admission exam (SPMB) declined by 12.11 percent to 350,306 students from 398,589 in 2002.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government-initiated re-registration of civil servants failed to gain momentum on its initial day on Tuesday with civil servants appearing decidedly unenthusiastic.

Lesley McCulloch – In the police stations of Aceh, in Indonesia's far northwest corner, fear is the daily diet of the detainees. Not fear of the outcome of a due legal process, but fear of torture by Indonesian police to force a false confession.

Nani Farida and A'an Suryana, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe – Following Monday's bomb blasts in Aceh's provincial capital Banda Aceh, authorities said they would tighten security in the city, as terrorist acts mark a new threat in the war against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday called for civilian militias to be set up in Indonesia as the military and police struggle to contain insurgencies and widespread lawlessness in the country.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri welcomed members of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) back to the fold of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), a day after they surrendered to the Papua Provincial Administration and pledged full unwavering loyalty to the state government.

Andrew Burrell – They may not like being lumped together, but Indonesia's radical Islamic terrorists and the nation's military commanders have more in common than they would care to admit.

Most glaringly, they are both accused of using or authorising shocking violence, often leading to the death of many innocent civilians, in the pursuit of their goals.

Geneva – The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), the world's largest coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) engaged in the fight against torture, would like to express its deep concern about the ongoing conflict in the province of Aceh, which, to a great extent, is being ignored by the international community.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh District Court handed an unwanted birthday present to Muhammad Nazar, the chairman of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA), in the form of a five-year jail term for "displaying hostility" to the government through his campaign for a self-determination referendum in Aceh.

In Jakarta, around 1000 people, the majority women from the Women's Claim Alliance (APM), commemorated March 8, International Women's Day (IWD), by condemning increases to fuel prices and calling for a reduction in prices and the resignation of President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

An international rights group criticised East Timor's new police force for arbitrary detentions, beating some detainees and a trigger-happy response to last December's riots in which three people died.

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua Provincial Legislative Council decided on Friday that it would refuse to implement the newly endorsed bill on national education in the province, saying that the bill would only compartmentalize citizens based on religion and could further trigger national disintegration.

Jakarta – A general on trial before a human rights court on Tuesday rejected allegations that troops fuelled the 1999 atrocities in East Timor as "fantasy."

Major-General Adam Damiri is the last and highest-ranking official to appear before the court, accused of crimes against humanity during East Timor's bloody breakaway from Jakarta's rule.

Dili – East Timor's prime minister, Mari Alkatiri, criticized Tuesday the earlier pronouncement by Dili's Court of Appeal that a draft immigration and asylum bill is unconstitutional. The Appeal Court ruled Monday that parts of the draft bill which limit political rights for foreign citizens in Timor are "unconstitutional".

Sidney Jones, Indonesia project director of Brussels-based analysts International Crisis Group suggests that the Jakarta government has an electoral interest in stirring up a nationalist backlash against foreign involvement in peace talks with separatists in Aceh.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – The newspaper editor Supratman is standing by his punchy page one headlines, even though they could send him to jail for six years.

Jakarta – Alleged irregularities in the purchase of Russian-made Sukhoi jet fighters are expected to come into the open slowly as lawmakers begin their investigation on Monday into the highly politicized case.

Three Indonesian soldiers arrested for raping four women in war-torn Aceh province have confessed to the crimes, the military said.

The private soldiers are now being detained at military police headquarters in North Aceh, said military operations spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Yani Basuki.

Jakarta – About 500 people from eight villages in three subdistricts, including Jonggol, Bogor, staged a rally over the weekend to oppose the Jakarta administration's plan to use land there as a dumpsite.

"We reject the construction of a dumpsite as it would be a disaster for locals," one of the protesters, Triasa Cahyaputra, was quoted as saying by Antara on Saturday.

Jayapura – Forty-two rebels in Indonesia's eastern Papua province surrendered Monday, vowing to end their struggle for independence, police said. It was not immediately clear what prompted the move.

Jakarta – More than 40 fighters of an armed separatist group in Indonesia's remote eastern province of Papua have surrendered to police and their immediate fate is – handicrafts training.

Papua police chief Budi Utomo told leading El Shinta radio that most of the 42 members of the Free Papua Organisation (OPM) had been living in the jungle, some as long as 10 years.

Lhok Sukon, Banda Aceh – The management of PT ExxonMobil Indonesia began dismissing around 1000 workers on Monday, this is the third time the company has dismissed contract workers this year.

In protest against the dismissals, employees held a demonstration in the area around ExxonMobil in Lhok Sukon on Monday, this demonstration being the fifth [to date].

Bogor – Protected forests in Bogor, such as those on the slopes of Mt. Salak, Mt. Pangrango and Mt. Pongkor, are being destroyed by illegal logging and mining, an expert says.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Human rights activists denounced the excavation of mass graves in Aceh by the Indonesian Military (TNI), saying it violated normal investigation procedures for possible gross violations of human rights.

Lumajang – Some 15 activists of the Moslem University Students Action Group (KAMMI) from some districts in East Java were released on Sunday afternoon after police earlier arrested and held them for a couple of hours.

"They were released after we interrogate them for several hours," Adjunct Commissioner Fransiscus Sasono, chief of the Lumajang police crime unit, said here.

Jakarta – The media criticized on Friday new guidelines for media coverage in Aceh, saying that rules were effectively hampering the press from obtaining balanced reports on the current integrated operations in the conflict-torn province.

A'an Suryana, Lhokseumawe – Soldiers captured on Friday two alleged Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists who acted as the rebels' district chief and police chief for the GAM district Tangse in the village of Pulo Kawah in Pidie regency.

Lhokseumawe – Aceh Separatist Movement (GSA) members may have infiltrated Acehnese society over the past few weeks to obtain newly issued "red-and-white" citizen's cards, a military officer said.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Politicians have blocked public demands for transparency in the campaign funds channeled to and spent by presidential candidates, casting doubt over their commitment to a fair and honest election, observers say.

Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – A group of senior Indonesian MPs is in the spotlight after media reports here said that they and their families had lived it up on a recent tour of Europe at taxpayers' expense.

Matthew Moore, Jakarta – Just five weeks into its renewed war against separatist rebels in Aceh, Indonesia has been accused of, in effect, banning foreign journalists from the province.