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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, October 06, 2003

Indonesian president pledges quick end to Aceh conflict

Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri has pledged to resolve the conflict in Aceh "as quickly and justly as possible" but fell short of giving any time frame or new ways to end the rebellion there.


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Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri has pledged to resolve the conflict in Aceh "as quickly and justly as possible" but fell short of giving any time frame or new ways to end the rebellion there.

Megawati said the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders now residing overseas "have no more rights to talk about Aceh's future as they are no longer citizens of this country."

"I believe nobody is happy with the ongoing conflict in Aceh. We feel sorry for the fall of many victims there because they are all our brothers," Megawati was quoted Monday by The Jakarta Post as saying.

The president was speaking in her speech delivered in conjunction with the Indonesian military's 58th anniversary celebration in Surabaya, East Java on Sunday.

She promised to resolve the Aceh issue quickly but gave no timetable or new approaches to settling the rebellion there once and for all.

Megawati issued a presidential decree in mid-May, putting the conflict-ridden Aceh under martial law and launched what the government described as "an integrated operation," which now appears mostly to have involved a military offensive.

More than 35,000 government troops have been deployed in Aceh to crush the around 5,000-strong GAM, whose members, according to the military, are equipped with some 2,000 weapons.

After more than four months into the military campaign, the government troops said they have killed 900 suspected GAM members.Civilian casualties have also been high, with 304 people killed and 140 others injured.


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