Banda Aceh – Indonesian Vice-President Hamzah Haz yesterday warned the Acehnese against harbouring futile dreams of independence, as a general strike called by separatist rebels hit the province for a second day.

Autonomy from Jakarta was the best Aceh was going to get, Mr Hamzah said, as seven more people died in the violence which has wracked this staunchly Muslim province on the northern tip of Sumatra island since 1976.

"People must not be influenced by GAM's promises to establish an independent nation of Aceh as all the wishes of the Acehnese have been met," Mr Hamzah said while opening a seminar on the second day of a two-day visit. "Let us end the conflict among us to build a better future for the people," Antara news agency quoted him as saying.

For the second day, the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, and other towns were largely deserted as people stayed at home in the face of a rebel threat.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) called the two-day strike to protest against alleged brutality by police and troops and at Jakarta's plan to revive a separate military command for the province. Shops and businesses were mostly closed.

In Banda Aceh, police raided two shops near the closed Syah Kula university campus, firing shots in the air, residents said. The police took away 11 people, eight of them students of the local state Islamic Institute, and confiscated three rifles.

Soldiers have been given shoot-on-sight orders to foil any rebel attempts to block roads by felling trees in the province.

In Jakarta, Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno said plans to revive the military command in Aceh were still being studied and the government was not at war with the rebel movement.