Atika Shubertm Jakarta – In another sign of Indonesia's crackdown in the restive province of Aceh, Chief Security Minister Bambang Yudhoyono will investigate suggestions the region's peace talks negotiator is not impartial.
Yudhoyono, on a week-long trip to the rebellious province, was quoted by state news agency Antara as saying there were suggestions the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) for Humanitarian Dialogue was taking the side of separatists.
The Geneva-based center has facilitated a series of dialogs between the government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels.
Yudhoyono said the mediator was always trying to clarify or justify what GAM had done following clashes between security forces and rebels.
The result of Yudhoyono's trip will be key to new policies Jakarta is drawing up on Aceh.
After Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri issued an order to take "firm action" last week, Yudhoyono threatened to declare a "state of emergency" which would effectively place the province under martial law.
The latest round of talks in May succeeded in getting both sides to declare a cease-fire and commit to an autonomy package as a starting point for negotiations. The cease-fire has been repeatedly broken, however, with violations on both sides.
The Free Aceh Movement also refuses to give up its stated claim of independence from Indonesia.
Indonesia has repeatedly warned that it will take a tougher stand against separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement as peace talks have unraveled amid escalating violence.
Human rights issues Rights groups and observers believe up to 600 people have been killed this year as a result of the conflict, blaming both the Free Aceh rebels as well as Indonesian police and military.
"There are a number of serious human rights violations that have been taken on the part of the rebels," said Sidney Jones from the International Crisis Group, currently researching a report on the conflict.
"At the same time, the military clearly feels that it has a green light to use all means necessary to ensure that the pushback continues. So we've seen very serious human rights violations on the part of the military, as well."
Lawmakers and human rights groups have protested the imposition of a state of emergency saying it is too similar to the military's "operational command" of Aceh in the early 1990's. Thousands of civilians were killed in a military attempt to extinguish the separatist movement.
The international community is monitoring the conflict closely for any signs of a return to the Indonesian military's brutal history in Aceh.
A senior US official said on Wednesday that the resumption of US-Indonesia military ties, broken off after Indonesia's military-led campaign of violence in East Timor, could be aversely affected by new alleged military abuses in Aceh.