A high-level Acehnese separatist rebel who was reported killed by the Indonesian military last month has made a public appearance and thanked the army for saving his life.

The military reported last month that Dailami, 32, and his wife were shot dead during an exchange of fire with troops.

But Dailami, 32, who confessed to being the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) "governor" of Central Aceh, told reporters on Wednesday that he and his 27-year-old wife had only been wounded during the skirmish in Bireuen district.

Dailami said he and his wife had been shot in the chest but managed to get a message to soldiers through their five-year-old son that they wanted to surrender. He said soldiers carried them out of the forest on stretchers on a night-long trek and took them to a military hospital in Lhokseumawe. Soldiers donated five blood bags to keep his wife alive, the rebel leader said.

He said he now "understands that Aceh cannot be free because GAM's strength is weakening and their military equipment is limited." "GAM definitely would not win an open war," the rebel leader, who was accompanied by his wife, told a press conference at military headquarters at Lhokseumawe in North Aceh.

The military on May 19 launched its biggest operation for a quarter-century with the aim of crushing GAM, which has been fighting for independence since 1976.

More than 900 guerrillas and 66 police or soldiers have been killed since then, according to military figures. More than 1,800 rebels have been arrested or have surrendered, it says. It has several times produced former guerrillas before the media.

ut the lesson of Australia's position is that if the booty is rich enough, law is irrelevant. It prefers to bully a country that needs oil to fund basic health care and education.

Australia claims to be a major benefactor of East Timor, but its assistance pales in comparison with the tens of billions of dollars it will reap from East Timor's resources under current arrangements. In fact, Australia has taken in more (over $1.2 billion) from the Laminaria oilfield than it has given East Timor in aid. This field began production in 1999 while the smoke was still rising from East Timor, but more than 70% of its oil has already been extracted and sold.

[Jesuina Cabral Charles Scheiner Institute for Reconstruction Monitoring, Dili, East Timor.]