Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – After claiming to have successfully cracked down on the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the military is now planning to intensify intelligence operations against rebels in the troubled province.

Aceh Military Commander Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya said here on Tuesday the Indonesian Military (TNI) was preparing to send 500 new intelligence officers to the province, where GAM rebels have been fighting for independence since 1976.

Endang, who said that there were already some 250 intelligence officers deployed in Aceh, did not say when the new officers would be sent.

More officers was needed to track down the few Aceh rebels who were left, who had eluded military operations because of their small numbers, he said.

"In the one-month extension of the state of civil emergency [in Aceh], the number of GAM members has significantly decreased, with no less than 311 rebels surrendering to the government.

"The falling numbers of GAM rebels, however, should not lead people to think security problems in Aceh have returned to normal. A more intensified operation is still needed, with a new strategy that emphasizes intelligence operations," Endang said after attending a meeting on security affairs here on Tuesday.

Endang said the TNI's chief of general affairs Vice Air Marshal Wartoyo had agreed to the proposal.

After the government declared a major offensive against GAM in mid-May last year, the TNI deployed about 40,000 troops in the province aiming to crush about 8,000 guerrillas equipped with about 2,000 weapons.

After large-scale operations, the TNI claimed the number of GAM members had dropped to about 2,200 rebels equipped with 800 weapons.

Asked to comment on the TNI plan, a GAM official said Tuesday the move "would only kill more innocent civilians, instead of quelling the secessionist movement." Rights activists have long criticized the performance of Indonesian intelligence agencies and highlighted various rights abuses, including psychological torture, rape and extra judicial killings that have gone on since the government imposed military rule and later a state of civil emergency in the area. More than 660 Acehnese civilians have been killed since May last year, they say.

In the Tuesday meeting, the government also discussed the humanitarian assistance and economic recovery packages for the province that were funded from this year's budget for Aceh operations.

State Minister of Information and Telecommunications Sofyan Djalil said the money should be used to fund projects badly needed by the Acehnese before fresh funds were disbursed to the province next year.

Lawmakers have so far allocated Rp 2.5 trillion (US$277.8 million) for Aceh operations since May last year – an initial 1.2 trillion when martial law was declared and another Rp 1.3 trillion when the government decided to extend the state of civil emergency for another six months in November.

Critics said the extension of the state of civil emergency closed the way for efforts to settle the problems in the troubled province, particularly its economy which had collapsed following the imposition of martial law. They said the state of civil emergency would also deny the public access to probe into high-profile corruption cases allegedly involving local political leaders.