DATE=11/9/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA/ ACEH / REBELS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255983
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid says
(Tuesday) he will let the troubled northern province
of Aceh secede if the people of Aceh vote for
independence. The president made his comment while in
the Philippines as part of a whirlwind trip through
Southeast Asia. But as Patricia Nunan reports from
Banda Aceh, capital of Aceh province, a separatist
leader says the idea of holding a referendum is no
longer relevant.
TEXT: Rebel leader Teungku Abdullah Syasfei says "it
doesn't matter if the government decides to hold a
referendum in Aceh "because, he says, "Indonesia is
going to break apart."
/// SYASFEI ACT IN INDONESIAN, FADE UNDER ///
"Indonesia hasn't got a future," he says, "the future
for Indonesia is disintegration." Syasfei is one of
27 commanders leading the rebel free Aceh movement, a
separatist group that has been fighting for statehood
since the 1970's.
Indonesian troops undertook a mission in 1989 to crush
the rebel group, but analysts say the plan backfired.
The separatists won more support because of the
soldiers' tactics, which human rights officials say
led to the death or disappearance of at least two-
thousand people.
Syasfei met with reporters in the district of Pidi, an
area under his command that has seen the highest
number of clashes with Indonesian troops in recent
months. The commander also said, soon most
Indonesians would realize it's time to break free of
the shackles, he says, that have been placed on them
by the central government.
/// SYASFEI ACT IN INDONESIAN, FADE UNDER ///
We will be the ones to help them he says, because Aceh
is already independent. Despite the strong
statements, the commander was unclear about the
direction the free Aceh movement would take. He
declined to offer an opinion about a pro-independence
demonstration held Monday in which roughly six hundred
thousand people gathered in the provincial capital to
call for an independence vote.
Syasfei also said he was not aware of an ultimatum
issued by local parliamentary leaders to the central
government stating that if Jakarta didn't decide
within a month to hold a referendum in Aceh, the
Achenese would hold one themselves. (Signed)
NEB/PN/LTD/KL
09-Nov-1999 12:28 PM EDT (09-Nov-1999 1728 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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