Banda Aceh – The governor of Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province has been dismissed by President Abdurrahman Wahid, an official said here yesterday as students took to the streets to protest the sacking.

Mr Syamsuddin Mahmud will be replaced on June 21 by Mr Ramli Ridwan, a senior home affairs ministry official in Jakarta, who will act as caretaker governor, the governor's spokesman Teuku Pribadi said. The presidential decree on Mr Mahmud's replacement was issued on June 7 by President Abdurrahman Wahid, he said.

Mr Mahmud, a Belgian-trained economist and professor at the Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, is expected to be posted to Jakarta as deputy chairman of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas).

He was elected for a second term as Aceh governor in 1998, and his term was supposed to end in 2003. But in April, 29 legislators in Aceh's parliament upheld a no-confidence motion against Mr Mahmud, saying he lacked a clear vision on how to solve the problems in Aceh and that he had failed to protect the Acehnese people against the conflict.

After hearing news of the sacking, some 100 Aceh students protested at the provincial parliament (DPRD), saying it was done by force and disputing the choice of his successor. They also demanded that the legislature be dissolved.

"There has been no significant contribution from the DRPD in solving the conflict in Aceh," one protestor, Mr Zukhri Adan, said. "The DPRD has been unable to prevent the government's coercive move to replace the governor."

They charged that Mr Mahmud's replacement was a crony of former Aceh governor Ibrahim Hasan, who has been accused of condoning human rights abuses by the military.

Aceh has been torn by violence – involving the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) seeking independence for the province, and government security forces – which has left more than 400 dead this year. On June 2, the Indonesian government and GAM entered a truce designed to try to stem the bloodshed.