Susan Sim, Pidie – Village chief Idris Yahya started packing when he heard the machine-gun fire early Friday morning. PPRM riot troops were in the vicinity and that meant one thing: It was no longer safe to stay in Keumala.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province on Monday denied charges by human rights watchdog Amnesty International that they were executing military informers.

Jakarta – Indonesian police early Friday removed nine Acehnese protesters from the grounds of the Netherlands embassy here, where they had been camped for more than 36 hours, one of the protestors said.

Jakarta – Amnesty International on Wednesday accused the Indonesian Military (TNI) of rampant violence in Aceh and said that deploying more troops in the province would only worsen the situation.

Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Aceh threatened Thursday to blow up a valuable natural gas refinery if Indonesia didn't withdraw troops from the strife-torn province.

Jakarta – A general strike to protest military violence entered a second day Thursday in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, leaving cities and towns deserted, residents said.

Sander Thoenes, Jakarta – Police launched a crack-down on separatist rebels in the Indonesian province of Aceh yesterday, just as a general strike there highlighted growing support for secession.

Jakarta – Aceh is to Indonesia what Georgia is to the United States – an integral part of the country. East Timor, by comparison, is like what Puerto Rico is to America, a territory.

Jakarta – A total of 7,000 troops will launch an operation to hunt down separatist rebels in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, the chief of the Aceh police said in a report Monday.

Jakarta – Officials in Banda Aceh have raised concerns over the deteriorating conditions among refugees which have reached some 140,000 people in Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh. Aceh's secretary to the governor, Sofyan Muchtar, told Antara on Saturday, "Their health is getting worse due to inadequate sanitary facilities and lack of clean water."

Banda Aceh – Police in violence torn Aceh province have found 15 more bodies dumped in ravines near the site of a recent massacre, bringing the death toll to 71, police sources and residents said on Sunday.

The bodies were found on Saturday in western Aceh's Alur Baru village, about two km from a village where dozens of people were gunned down last Monday.

Jakarta – Residents in the troubled western province of Aceh have dug up 51 bodies of civilians killed by Indonesian trooops last week for allegedly possessing illegal arms, a report said Friday.

Rebellion is seriously brewing in Aceh province. With an overseas arms supply, substantial funding and popular support, the Aceh Merdeka movement could pose a threat much worse than East Timor's separatist struggle.

By John McBeth in Jakarta, Syamsul Indrapatra in Banda Aceh, Nate Thayer in Bangkok and Bertil Lintner in Stockholm

More than 100 military personnel from (TNI-AD; Indonesian Armed Forces) commanded by BKO (Operational Unit) of Korem 011/Liliwangsa, composed of Yonif 131 and 133 and backed by one platoon from Battalion 328 Kostrad, commanded by Intel Korem 011/Liliwangsa, LetKol Inf Sudjono, in initial report have massacred more than 39 civilian in the valley of Singgah Mata, Blang Merandeh villag

Yindee Lertcharoenchok – After the first ever face-to-face talks, representatives of the Free Aceh movement and a government-sanctioned Acehnese delegation yesterday expressed hope that both sides could strike an agreement, as early as next week, to end the violence in one of Indonesia's worst strife-torn provinces.

Jakarta – Minister of Justice/State Secretary Muladi ruled out on Thursday the possibility of holding a dialog with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), saying it was not a legal organization.

Jakarta – The Indonesian military, hit by rising losses in Aceh province, has dispatched a battalion of marines to reinforce units battling separatist rebels, the official Antara news agency said yesterday.

Jakarta – A group of separatist rebels shot five anti-riot troop personnel dead and injured a score of others on Monday in a dawn ambush in Reng Krueng village in Pidie regency, 170 kilometers east of the provincial capital Banda Aceh.

Jakarta – Separatist movements which have simmered in Aceh and Irian Jaya for years could force the government to declare martial law in the two provinces, a minister said on Monday. Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Feisal Tanjung, speaking for Minister of Defense and Security Gen.

Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Human rights and community groups are accusing the Indonesian military of provoking violence in Indonesia's northern Aceh province, where more than 80,000 people have fled their homes.

Jakarta – More than 80,000 people have fled violence between soldiers and rebels in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, an official said Thursday.

The refugee numbers had been swelled by more than 6,000 people who left their villages in East Aceh to reach 80,020, the head of the Aceh social affairs office, Zaharir, said quoted by the Antara news agency.

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto defended on Tuesday the presence of anti-riot troops in Aceh, following recent clashes which left nine people dead.

Eight alleged rebels were shot dead in two separate clashes in East Aceh and Central Aceh on Monday, the day bodies of two police were found in East Aceh with severe wounds.

Jakarta – Troops killed six suspected separatist rebels and injured three others in two separate incidents in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, a report said Tuesday.

Jakarta – More than 40,000 refugees packed camps in Indonesia's Aceh province Saturday, an official said, after fleeing their villages out of fear of continuing violence between soldiers and rebels.

A preliminary count of the refugees in Pidie disctrict showed 44,740 people had fled, said the official who asked to remain anonymous.

Jakarta – Anxiety prevailed in the North Aceh district of Matangkuli, near Lhokseumawe, on Tuesday following an overnight gunfight involving security authorities and armed separatist rebels.

Sigli – Some 25,000 people have fled their homes in Pidie district up to Sunday, 4 July and sub-district Tangse is almost entirely deserted. Thousands more villagers have fled a number of villages in sub-distrct Bandar Baru because they no longer feel safe in their homes.

4,000 people fleeing from villages in the sub-district Tangse, Pidie. who were on their way to the mosque in Beureuneun yesterday Friday, were obstrcuted along the way by troops and forced to halt their exodus, staying instead in a mosque in Tangse.

Jakarta – Minister of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military Commander Gen. Wiranto says an investigation into rights abuses from the 10-year-long military operation in Aceh is unnecessary, warning it would open the floodgates for similar grievances left over from the New Order regime.

Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto denied on Tuesday the presence of security troops in Aceh was causing residents to flee the volatile province.

Jakarta – Deserters from the Army's elite Special Forces (Kopassus) have been accused of involvement in widespread violence in restive Aceh province, where hundreds of people, mostly civilians, have been killed recently.

Jakarta – Security concerns led the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the government to cancel the elections in the Pidie and North Aceh regencies of Aceh.

KPU chairman Rudini said here on Monday the decision was made after taking into account escalating tension in the regencies and the possible risks if elections went ahead there.

Mark McDonald, Jinjiem – The soldiers came for Mira Rasyid on a warm March evening and hauled her off to an interrogation center built into a thick grove of bamboo. Throughout that night in 1998, and every night for the next five months, she says, they tortured and raped her.

Jakarta – Two school teachers were found dead in northwestern Indonesia after being led away by unidentified gunmen that police suspect are separatist rebels, a report said Monday.

The victims, Ubit Pakek, 58, and Tgk. Hasballah, 54, were teachers in separate primary schools in Pidie regency, the official Antara news agency said.

Jakarta – Unidentified men shot dead two soldiers in two separate attacks in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, reports said here Saturday.

Lhokseumawe – Thousands of people have fled their homes and taken refuge in and around US oil company Mobil Corp. (MOB) complex in troubled Aceh province after soldiers were deployed in their villages, officials and witnesses said Wednesday.

Nicole Gaouette, Banda Aceh – Ayub Abas calls his work a legacy. "Our parents fought for freedom against Dutch colonizers," he says, stocky in crisp fatigues, an AK-47 slung over his shoulder. "This is the same struggle, just a different enemy."

Jakarta – A human rights group said on Tuesday the military released misleading information about recent unrest in Aceh, including that separatists terrorized residents into fleeing their homes.

Thousands of evacuees across Aceh started returning home Tuesday to their villages even though there is no guarantee of their safety. It appears that the evacuees decided to go home after realising that their circumstances in the camps were no better - in their villages they are afraid of the army and in places to which they have fled they are threatened with disease and hunger.

Jakarta – Indonesian troops shot dead five civilians, including two children, in the troubled province of Aceh, reports said here Sunday.

The soldiers opened fire after a loud bang was heard as a convoy of trucks carrying members of the Mass Riot Control Force passed Peureulak in East Aceh district on Saturday, the RCTI television said.

Jakarta – Two Indonesian soldiers were killed and six injured when they were attacked by 10 armed men in the troubled province of Aceh Friday, the state news agency Antara said.

Jakarta – Three bodies, including those of two soldiers, were found in the restive province of Aceh yesterday after gunmen attacked an Air Force radar tower in another area, government officials said.

The bodies were found in side streets in Teupin Batee village in the morning, the head of East Aceh district, Alauddin Ae, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Lhokseumawe – Hopes that delayed elections could be held in several districts of the troubled province of Aceh faded yesterday with the killing of at least three more security personnel.

Sigli – The state of health among refugees in the sub-districts of Bandar Dua and Ulim, Pidie is beginning to cause anxiety. Disease is striking the children in particular.

Marianne Kearney, Lhokseumawe – Amid an escalation of violence in the northern Sumatran province of Aceh and increasing demands for a referendum, Acehnese separatist rebels say they are ready for war.

Jakarta – Indonesia's Armed Forces will take every step to stop the troubled region of Aceh from seceding from the country, a senior military official was quoted as saying yesterday.

Stockholm – The Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF) has already decided not to take part in the June 7 parliamentary elections this year. ASNLF believes that the Indonesian elections is nothing but jus a democratic farce, and that will not bring any good for the people of Aceh.

Lhokseumawe – Aceh provincial government has imposed an overnight curfew in the oil-rich but riot-torn district of North Aceh.

A statement issued Thursday in Lhokseumawe, the capital, bars people from leaving their homes between midnight and 4:30am.

Jakarta – Gunmen killed two soldiers in Indonesia's Aceh province in the latest violence to hit the troubled region where more than 50 people have been killed in the past month, the military said Thursday.

Jakarta – Minister of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Wiranto told a plenary Cabinet meeting on Wednesday he would send more troops to Aceh because of increased rebel attacks against security officers and civilians, a minister said.

[The following is a posting by Tapol described as a reliable eye-witness report of an incident apparently set up by the military to discredit GAM separatists.]