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Militar chief orders shoot in head Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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First created :
20 May 2003 1919 hrs (SST) 1119 hrs (GMT)
Last modified :
20 May 2003 1919 hrs (SST) 1119 hrs (GMT)
Indonesia's military chief orders his men to exterminate Aceh rebels, spare civilians
Indonesia's military chief ordered his men on Tuesday to "exterminate" Aceh separatist guerrillas who refuse to surrender as a huge offensive in the province went into its second day.
"Hunt them down and exterminate them," General Endriartono Sutarto told around 400 officers in a briefing in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
Indonesia has launched its biggest military operation since the 1975 invasion of East Timor in an attempt to finish off the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Thousands of troops, backed up by aircraft and warships, are taking part.
General Sutarto said rebels would be well treated if they give up.
"But if they continue to be stubborn and raise arms, and continue to cause suffering to the people, then your sole duty is to exterminate them," he said.
He ordered soldiers to avoid civilian casualties and said any excesses against civilians would bring severe punishment.
"What you are doing here now is being broadcast all over the world," General Sutarto told them.
"If there are soldiers who do violate (the order) and cause suffering to people in the field, then just shoot them in the head," he told the officers.
The assault began early Monday, hours after last-ditch peace talks broke down in Tokyo.
Hundreds of extra troops parachuted into the province on Sumatra island or waded ashore from landing craft in the first deployment of reinforcements.
The military said resistance so far was lighter than expected but blamed rebels for torching scores of schools.
"They (GAM) are continuing to look for targets and keep moving but their level of resistance is smaller than we had thought," said Lieutenant Colonel
Ahmad Yani Basuki, spokesman for the military operation.
Seven rebels had been arrested and five killed so far, he told ElShinta radio.
Lieutenant-Colonel Basuki said there were some firefights but no major clashes On Tuesday.
One soldier was injured in a brief clash in Bireuen district.
He said no one was hurt in another brief gunfight in the same district.
The military said an airborne battalion, normally around 600 men, arrived Tuesday at Takengon airport in Central Aceh.
The deputy chief of the Aceh education office, Anaz Muhammad Adam, said that 179 schools in six districts had been set ablaze -- including 78 in Bireuen and 74 in Pidie.
School burnings have been common in the past. The army says GAM sees such schools as an imposition of the Indonesian education system in the province.
Officials said Monday there are 28,000 soldiers or marines in Aceh plus 8,000 regular police and 2,000 paramilitary police. They are facing off against
an estimated 5,000 guerrillas with 2,000 light weapons.
An estimated 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict since 1976.
The most recent peace pact had lasted only since December 9.
The military said the assault could last months and might involve aerial and naval gunfire against rebel bases.
A plane rocketed suspected rebel bases on Monday.
The government says the assault was prompted by GAM's refusal at the Tokyo talks formally to end its independence struggle and to accept special
autonomy.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri's decision to go back to war is highly popular with the powerful military and with the public outside Aceh.
It sparked dismay overseas.
The US State Department said military force could not solve the problem and called for a return to negotiations. Australia and other countries made similar
pleas.
A 10-year operation launched in Aceh in 1989 was marked by gross military human rights abuses and international rights groups expressed alarm at the new
assault.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the campaign and the imposition of martial law in Aceh "sets the stage for gross human rights violations."
During the previous 10-year campaign, thousands of civilians were murdered, disappeared or tortured, the group said.
Amnesty International called on both sides to protect civilians, saying that previously "both sides have been responsible for serious abuses and ordinary civilians have overwhelmingly been the victims."
Copyright © 2003 MCN International Pte Ltd
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