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Residents raise separatist flags in Aceh

Source
Agence France Presse - April 19, 1999

Lhokseumawe – Residents Monday raised separatist flags over their homes in several villages of Indonesia's northern Aceh district, a day after the flag figured prominently in a mass rally here, a witness said.

In the colorful rally on Sunday hundreds of people including scores of young children paraded through the city's main avenue for several hours, cheered by hundreds of onlookers.

"This was the first time ever that the independence flag has been openly displayed," a resident said. "Today [Monday] most homes in the villages in the northern Aceh district are flying the separatist flag," he added

The flag has a bright red background contrasting with the white crescent and star symbol trapped between two thick black horizontal stripes.

The children in Sunday's parade wore red headbands bearing the same symbol and mounted large flags on the backs of bicycles. "People were overjoyed and welcomed the flying of the flag, widely seen here as a symbol of independence," the source added.

A few police officers stood by and largely ignored the yells of some students who demanded a referendum on self-determination, he said.

The staunchly Moslem province of Aceh is home to the Free Aceh movement which has fought for an Islamic state in the oil-rich region since the mid-1970s.

President B.J. Habibie, in his first visit to the provincial capital Banda Aceh in March, promised an inquiry into human rights violations during the ten years the province was under virtual military control. He said civilian or military offenders would be taken to court.

Habibie has brushed aside calls for a referendum on self-determination in Aceh. Separatist sentiment has been strongest in districts where the military conducted heavy-handed operations against rebels for a decade until last year.

Discontent at the central government has also been fuelled by complaints that it is exploiting the region's natural resources, including its oil and gas reserves, without little of the profits going to Aceh itself.

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