Jakarta – Three months after placing Aceh province under martial law, Indonesia is losing its campaign to win the "hearts and minds" of the Acehnese people, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) warned on Wednesday.

"The message coming through clearly is that far from winning the hearts and minds, the government is managing to alienate Acehnese even further," said the ICG think tank in a six-page report on Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province released in Jakarta and Brussels.

Indonesia placed Aceh under martial law on May 19, scrapping a five-month-old ceasefire with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) which has been waging an independence struggle in the oil-rich region since December, 1976.

In tandem with launching a military offensive to crush the 5,300 strong GAM guerrilla force, the government also professed to be engaging in a campaign to win the hearts and minds of the Acehnese people with development programs and a respect for human rights.

ICG argued that its strategy, thus far, has been seriously flawed. "The government appears to have no clear objective in this war, no criteria for success, other than control of the territory and body counts, and no exit strategy," it said.

ICG warned that the TNI's recent efforts to win over the Acehnese seem doomed for failure. "Ultimately, the Indonesian government needs to design a strategy for Aceh that builds on the three pillars cited by [coordinating minister for political affairs] Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono: respect, justice and prosperity," concluded the ICG.