Jakarta – The Army Chief General Endriartono Sutarto yesterday said police have not been able to fight a separatist movement in Aceh. Speaking in the Central Java capital of Semarang, he said an immediate military operation could be the only way to end the bloodshed in the troubled province.

It is up to the government and the nation whether the military operation will be implemented, Sutarto was quoted by Antara as saying. He said the police are prepared to guard the law enforcement, but they are not prepared to face guerrilla actions like what happens in Aceh.

We [the military] believe that troops should be deployed there. The police would not been able to fight against guerrillas. A political decision is needed [for the deployment], he said.

Last week, Defense Minister Muhammad Mahfud said the government would no longer extend the truce which has taken into effect since June and was prolonged in September. The government is ready to conduct military operations if the negotiations remain at an impasse and if the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) insists on demanding independence, he stressed.

A poll says that Indonesians back a tough stand against separatism in Aceh and another troubled province of Irian Jaya. The poll also shows that Indonesians have denounced the governments slow action in dealing with separatists.

A whopping 74.26% of 571 people polled by the Media Indonesia daily in 10 regions and among expatriates abroad agreed it was time for the government to act firmly to eradicate separatism.

Security beefed up More than 2,000 troops have been deployed to Aceh amid rising violence and assassination threats against President Abdurrahman Wahid, who will visit the province next week.

The soldiers will be on standby with police to maintain security during Wahids visit planned for Tuesday, in light of worsening security conditions and the threats made to assassinate the president, National Defense Forces (TNI) spokesman Rear Marshall Graito Usodo said yesterday.

During the visit, the president will declare Islamic Sharia law and hand over Rp100 billion (US$10.5 million) of humanitarian aid in an attempt to defuse demands by rebels for independence.

Separatist groups yesterday downplayed a possible attack on Wahid during his one-day visit to the provincial capital of Banda Aceh. He can come here. Deaths threats against the president did not come from us, Cut Nur Asikin, a GAM spokeswoman, was quoted by AP as saying.

Asikin referred to a warning from the GAM that it had intelligence of a possible hardline military plot to assassinate the president in Aceh. In recent weeks, the provincial governors office was hit by a grenade attack, prominent figures were murdered and three human rights workers killed. Several government offices have been bombed.

Wahid, who is facing mounting criticism over his performance, has promised greater powers of self-rule for Aceh. But he has rejected demands that the province be allowed to break away from the Indonesian state.