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Aceh rebels face crackdown

Source
Financial Times - August 5, 1999

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.

General Rusmanhadi, chief of police, said the new offensive against Acehnese rebels was to last until January, 2000 and involve 6,186 Aceh police officers. He issued a shoot-on-sight order for armed civilians who "bother the public".

The move fuelled fears that Aceh may turn into a much more destabilising problem for the Indonesian authorities than the troubled province of East Timor. "Attitudes are hardening on both sides. There is no middle ground at this point," said one western diplomat.

While secession of East Timor is not seen as a direct threat to Indonesian unity, as the territory was occupied only in 1975, the loss of Aceh could unleash a torrent of separatist calls across Indonesia. Protests and rebel activity have already increased in Irian Jaya and activists have organised in other provinces as well.

The police crackdown coincided with a general strike that paralysed much of Aceh, largely in response to earlier police and military violence against both separatist rebels and unarmed civilians.

The student groups and activists, who organised the two-day strike, called on Jakarta to withdraw troops from Aceh, investigate human rights abuses by the military and hold a referendum on the status of the province, similar to the vote planned for East Timor on August 30.

In Jakarta, nine Acehnese broke into the compound of the Dutch embassy, demanding support for their cause from the Netherlands, the former colonial ruler of Indonesia.

Analysts say the strike, the first such protest across Aceh, highlights widespread resentment against Jakarta. Calls for secession are not limited to students and separatist rebels, who have stepped up attacks on military targets in recent months.

The strikers were responding in part to the killing of more than 50 Acehnese by Indonesian soldiers last week in what activists and some diplomats believe was a summary execution. Amnesty International yesterday described the human rights situation in Aceh as "critical".

Shops in leading Acehnese cities were closed, public transport halted and most people failed to show up for work in response to yesterday's strike call.

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