Military

DATE=11/09/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDO / ACEH VIOLENCE - L

NUMBER=2-269024

BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN

DATELINE=JAKARTA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: As many as nine people may have been killed by Indonesian security forces in the separatist northern province of Aceh. As Patricia Nunan reports from Jakarta, the renewed violence comes as thousands of people are traveling to the provincial capital for a massive independence rally.

TEXT: Witnesses say soldiers in the south of the province opened fire without provocation - on a convoy of vehicles with independence supporters headed to the rally in the provincial capital Banda Aceh. In another incident, security forces reportedly blew up two bridges in northern Aceh to prevent people from arriving in the capital.

A local police spokesman confirmed the deaths - but disputes eyewitness accounts. Officials say security forces only returned fire in response to

attacks by separatist rebels.

At least 10-thousand people have already arrived in Banda Aceh for a two-day independence rally beginning Friday. Demonstrators plan to call on

the United Nations to organize an independence referendum in Aceh - much like the ballot held in East Timor last year. Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend.

Separatist guerrillas have been fighting for the province's independence since the 1970s. But the independence movement gained momentum when the Indonesian government allowed the East Timorese to breakaway after they voted for independence.

The Indonesian government has consistently maintained that the referendum in East Timor would not serve as a precedent for other restive provinces.

President Abdurrahman Wahid says the government's priority is to put an end to human rights abuses committed by Indonesian troops in Aceh - and to hold the military accountable for the human rights violations of the past. Then, the president says, most Acehnese will drop their demand for independence.

So far that plan has not quite come together. Violence in Aceh continues to erupt despite two successive cease-fires called between troops and

rebels. More than 200 people have died since the first cease-fire went into effect in June. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/PN/JO