Free Republic

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia. Across this most religious of Indonesia's provinces, brown-uniformed policemen in black wagons enforce Shariah, or Islamic law: They haul unmarried couples into precincts and arrest people for drinking or gambling. Increasingly, many of the cases are pushed to public canings at mosques in front of pumped-up crowds. On Friday, a man and a woman were caned with a rattan rod before a raucous crowd in the yard of the mosque in Samadua, a town in the southern part of the province of Aceh, after being arrested in a kiosk for being together and alone, although they were...

THE last batch of combat soldiers in Aceh assembled on the dockside yesterday in full kit and armed to the teeth, ready to embark on their troopships as the final act of a bloody 29-year guerrilla war. Supaidin Adi Saputra, Aceh’s military commander, told them they should be proud of fighting to keep Indonesia intact — then told the watching Acehnese: “The flame of peace is burning and we must not let anyone extinguish it.” The head of the feared Indonesian military in Aceh was doing what was almost unthink-able only a year ago; telling its people that the war,...

The indiscriminate, awesome power of the Indian Ocean tsunami did not just annihilate communities, it fundamentally altered the destinies of two bloody, decades-long conflicts. In Aceh, the Indonesian province worst affected by the devastating waves, the apocalyptic aftermath has become a catalyst for peace between the Government and separatists. It seems both parties innately understood that the fighting had to stop if this land was to get the aid required for the huge rebuilding task. Jakarta started the final phase of a troop reduction in Aceh today, a key step in a peace agreement with separatist rebels that was propelled...

PEACE ACCORD: The move was part of an agreement that ends Asia's longest-running separatist insurgency, and sets the stage for the guerillas to run in elections Indonesia's Aceh rebels formally disbanded their armed wing yesterday, fulfilling a crucial part of a tsunami-inspired peace accord to end one of Asia's longest separatist conflicts and paving the way for the guerillas to enter politics. "The Acehnese national army, or the armed wing of the Free Aceh Movement, has demobilized and disbanded," Sofyan Daud, one of the group's commanders, told reporters. "The Aceh national army is now part of civil society, and will...

Banda Aceh, Indonesia -- The morality enforcers, a squad of men clad in green trousers and white shirts and women in white head scarves, stride on to this provincial capital's tsunami-scarred beach to weed out sin. After descending from a pickup truck, the enforcers -- patterned after the religious police of Saudi Arabia -- check identity cards of a couple who had been munching corn on the cob while staring at the sea. The man and woman, obviously sweethearts, are given a stern warning and told to go their separate ways.

Religious extremists are using last year’s storm to oppress the survivors MARLUDDIN JALIL, a Sharia judge who has ordered the punishment of women for not wearing headscarves, was uncompromising: “The tsunami was because of the sins of the people of Aceh.” Thundering into a microphone at a gathering of wives, he made clear where he felt the fault lay: “The Holy Koran says that if women are good, then a country is good.” A year after the disaster which many see as a divine punishment, emboldened Islamic hardliners are doing their best to eradicate sin — and women are their...

SIX assault rifles were cut into small pieces in a hot Acehnese parade ground yesterday, the last weapons to be officially decommissioned in the drawn-out journey to peace in the beleaguered province. Young rebel fighters dressed in navy and black fatigues marched in with the weapons during a ceremony observed by Indonesian generals and leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Enemies for 30 years, the generals and the rebel leaders sat together in Blang Padang field in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, to observe the symbolic end to a war that lasted three decades and killed thousands. "This is...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia : The image of the United States in tsunami-hit parts of Asia may have enjoyed a boost thanks to its massive aid donations, but one year on, residents say US policy speaks louder than dollars. The US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, along with Washington's pro-Israeli stance, have incensed Muslims across the region, and no amount of aid -- even in tsunami-ravaged Indonesia -- has soothed their anger. "I don't like the leader of the American people. I don't mind the people, I just don't like their leader," says Yan, a 35-year-old Acehnese dried fish trader who...

Outbreak of Bird Flu Detected in Indonesia Thu Nov 24, 2:56 AM ET Indonesia has detected the first outbreak of bird flu in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province where hundreds of chickens have died from the disease, the Agriculture Ministry said Thursday. Bird flu has now been found in 23 of Indonesia's 30 provinces, said Sjamsul Bahri, the Agriculture Ministry's director of animal health. The deadly H5N1 strain has jumped from birds to humans, killing seven people in Indonesia. But the emergence of the virus in Aceh — where tens of thousands of people still live in crowded refugee camps following the...

ASSOCIATED PRESS BANGKOK, Thailand -- A security adviser to the prime minister said Thursday that Indonesian fighters are involved in Thailand's Muslim insurgency, contradicting government insistence the bloody separatist movement is a homegrown affair unconnected to Southeast Asia's al-Qaida-linked terror network. "I have warned the authorities concerned several times about Indonesian fighters sneaking into the region but they have ignored it," Gen. Kitti Rattanachaya told The Associated Press, saying the militants infiltrated from the Indonesian province of Aceh. His assertion comes amid rumors of Indonesian Muslims joining the fight in Thailand's southernmost provinces. No substantial evidence has emerged to back...

The Indonesian Government and rebels from the province of Aceh signed a peace treaty this morning in Helsinki that could bring to an end South East Asia's longest running war. The signing of the treaty this morning, in which the separatist rebels known as the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, renounced their claim for full independence in return for an amnesty and participation in Indonesian politics, came after seven months of negotiations. More than 10,000 people are believed to have died in Aceh's war of independence against the Indonesian Government over the last 30 years. More than 4,000 people, including...

The two sides acknowledged there was still a lot to be done The Indonesian government and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) have signed a peace deal aimed at ending their near 30 year conflict. Representatives from each side signed the official document in Helsinki. "This is the beginning of a new era for Aceh," said former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who mediated the talks. "Much hard work lies ahead." Efforts to end the conflict resumed after the huge tsunami last December, which destroyed vast swathes of Aceh. In the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, big screens were set up...

LAMBADA LHOKE, Indonesia - When the people of this fishing village rebuild their homes on their old foundations, they will live among a checkerboard of empty lots left by those who died in the tsunami six months ago Sunday. "They will be blank," said Charul Amri, the village chief, describing the square patches of rubble or tile flooring that are all that remains of the fishermen's houses here on the coast of Aceh. Eventually, he said, those plots will be claimed or bought, new neighbors will take the place of those who are gone, and Lambada Lhoke - where just...

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) - Government troops shot dead a local rebel chief in Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh region as peace talks between the government and separatists continued in Finland, a report said. Miswar alias Siwai, a local commander for the Free Aceh Movement in southwest Aceh's Blang Pidie area, was shot dead along with one of his men in a clash on Tuesday, the province's Serambi newspaper reported. It quoted the head of the South Aceh military command, Lieutenant Colonel Jamhur Ismail, as saying 19 soldiers were on a mission in the area when they encountered about seven men carrying...

Christian groups and some other private relief agencies are being asked to halt their work in the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh and leave the area by March 26, Indonesia's defense minister said yesterday. The decision likely will target Western and smaller church groups as the government moves to tighten control over reconstruction work in Aceh, the home of a decades-old separatist insurgency. "We want each of the relief agencies to be transparent in their programs: Some of them are not clear about their mandates," said Juwono Sudarsono during an interview in a Washington hotel.

Scientist foresaw Sumatran quake Research showed area was ripe for temblor By Kimm Groshong , Staff WriterArticle Published: Sunday, March 06, 2005 - 8:25:08 PM PST PASADENA -- When the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resultant tsunami devastated Sumatra and much of the Bay of Bengal on Dec. 26, Kerry Sieh's premonition became a nightmarish reality. The Caltech geology professor had studied the history of giant earthquakes just south of the epicenter for about a decade and knew full well the damage such a major quake in that part of the world could inflict. He had tried to get the word out...

Claims, counter-claims threaten fragile post-tsunami truce. JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia’s military on Saturday claimed it had killed 30 separatist rebels in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province in the space of a week, threatening a fragile truce agreed on after the Dec. 26 natural disaster. A rebel spokesman alleged most of the 30 were unarmed villagers caught up in army sweeps. A top commander, meanwhile, reportedly accused the rebels of lying during ongoing peace talks. The flurry of claims indicate the post-tsunami informal cease-fire is not sticking and underline the obstacles to a lasting peace in the region, which has been wracked by...

HELSINKI : The Indonesian government and Aceh separatists wrapped up peace talks, setting a date for new talks and reporting major progress, but no breakthrough, on an offer of special autonomy for the tsunami-wrecked province. A new round of negotiations was set for April, the third since the Indian Ocean tsunamis that devastated Aceh made the need for a settlement more pressing. Indonesian communications minister and delegation member Sofyan Djalil, speaking after the Helsinki meeting concluded, said the rebels initially had rejected outright a government offer of special autonomy. But as the talks progressed their position "changed dramatically", he told...

The world's biggest grouping of Muslim countries has pledged $145 million for Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province, to be spent largely on children orphaned by the 26 December disaster, says a report. The money will finance various projects over a four to five-year period, chair of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, was quoted as saying on Sunday by the New Straits Times. The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), along with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), has already identified five projects to fund, including a home for orphans in Aceh. Work to build the shelter will...

Islamic extremists could be planning to attack foreign aid workers in Indonesia’s tsunami-ravaged Aceh province, Australia’s foreign minister warned today. “New information (has been) received by the government concerning possible terrorist planning for attacks against foreigners involved in relief efforts in Aceh or other areas of northern Sumatra,” Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said in a statement in Canberra. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade today revised its travel advice for Indonesia, warning that Australians could endanger themselves by travelling to northern Sumatra island, where Aceh is located. “We’ve now found that some of the Islamic extremists are talking...