Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – While affirming Indonesia's "territorial integrity," the United States today urged President Abdurrahman Wahid not to use force in quelling a bloody separatist rebellion in the country's north.

Concluding a two-day visit to Jakarta, Thomas R. Pickering, undersecretary of state for political affairs, said the United States supports Indonesia's "territorial integrity and is not in favor of dividing up Indonesia."

But he cautioned against continuing an offensive against rebels in the country's northern Aceh province, which has been wracked by separatist violence. "We don't believe that the problem can be resolved ... by the use of military force," Pickering said. "We believe the problem must be resolved through the process of dialogue, discussions and negotiations."

Pickering also voiced strong support for Indonesia's political and economic reforms. He noted that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had singled out Indonesia as one of four countries making the transition to democracy that deserved special attention and US aid. The three others are Colombia, Nigeria and Ukraine.

While Pickering had praise for the Indonesia's democratic transition, he warned that more violence was unlikely to settle the 25-year-long Aceh conflict, where police said today 13 people were killed in the latest violence.

Lt. Col. Syafei Aksal, a local police chief in Aceh, said four decomposed bodies were found Thursday in North Aceh district. He said all the dead bodies, one of them headless, were beyond recognition. At least 5,000 people have been killed in the province during the past decade.

In West Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province, police fired on dozens of indigenous Papuans attacking a police station, authorities said today. Two Papuans were killed in Thursday's clash.

After the first free elections in 44 years in Indonesia, Wahid took office in October with the aim of reviving the country's moribund economy and reform its corruption-ridden institutions while dealing with multiple separatist and religious conflicts.

He met with President Clinton in Washington in November, and a number of high-level bilateral meetings have followed. Last month, the Clinton administration announced that US aid to Indonesia in 2000 would increase by 66 percent, from $75 million to $125 million.