Achmad Sukarsono, Banda Aceh – Indonesia said on Saturday civilians in Aceh, scene of its biggest military crackdown in decades, would be given new ID cards to stop separatist rebels blending in with the population.
With the United Nations warning of a looming humanitarian crisis after five days of fighting, a military spokesman predicted the plan would help restore normality to parts of the staunchly Muslim province at the northern tip of Sumatra island.
"The ID card will have signatures from the local region, the local police and the local military," a military spokesman, Major M. Solih, said. "This is for the sake of the people to normalise the situation in parts of Aceh." Police say Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels have been confiscating people's old identification cards, but it was not clear when the new cards would be introduced.
Indonesia declared martial law and attacked the rebels on Monday after a five-month peace agreement collapsed.
Officials said on Friday that 23,000 civilians had fled their homes in the province, which is rich in gas and oil. The United Nations said basic health services had collapsed in places.
More than 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in a 27-year war in the province, one of two separatist hotspots in the sprawling archipelago. Papua province in the far east is the other.
The military says 58 rebels have been killed since Monday. The rebels say 53 civilians have been killed, along with 12 GAM fighters and 43 soldiers and police. The casualty tolls could not be independently verified, but the Indonesian military denies causing civilian deaths.
The government, with 45,000 troops and police pitted against about 5,000 GAM fighters, is hoping for victory within six months, but the rebels have historically taken full advantage of the rugged, jungle-clad terrain.
Island fight
Solih said the military were pushing rebels off an island, off the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, 1,700 km northwest of Jakarta. They have pounded the island with rocket fire from helicopters and machinegun and cannon fire from patrol boats.
"We have controlled four rebel posts, but there are four other posts which still are in the hands of the rebels because a lot of residents are surrounding those posts so we are holding back," Solih said.
The military, accused of human rights violations in the past, says it is doing its utmost to avoid civilian casualties and will punish any rights violations.
Aceh's deputy governor, Aswar Abubakar, said on Friday 23,000 people had been displaced since Monday. The UN Children's Fund said up to 300,000 people could be displaced within the next three months.
Basic health services had "collapsed" and more than 280 schools have been burnt and destroyed, depriving 60,000 children of education, the agency said in a statement issued in Geneva.
UNICEF said it was sending 20 tonnes of emergency health kits to cover the basic needs of 200,000 people for three months and 20,000 hygiene kits for displaced families.