Word: gam
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...country's prisons. The Justice Ministry said that there are new charges against the suspects related to the 1994 atrocities, in which 800,000 Rwandans died. More than 100,000 suspects are in jail awaiting trial on genocide charges. NOT SAYING MUCH INDONESIA Negotiations between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Jakarta government got off to a shaky start when the separatists threatened to stall the meeting if their delegates - five men arrested for trying to leave the country without notifying authorities - were not released by police. The meetings, which are taking place in Tokyo, may be the last...
...Caught in the cross fire are ordinary Acehnese. At Simpang Keramat, most shops are boarded up and abandoned, and women are preparing bags of rice and other supplies for their flight. Most young men have already left: they are often regarded as potential GAM recruits by the Indonesian military and therefore might become targets themselves. "Don't Display Your Weapons," exhorts a sign outside the village. Somebody has blanked...
...While ordinary Acehnese are scared, they are also angry. That anger is directed primarily at the government in Jakarta, of course, which has never convinced the Acehnese it cares much about them. But there is also much resentment at how GAM leaders may well have blown a once-in-a-quarter-century chance to radically improve the lives of their people...
...they are likely to suffer a lot more, since the years have not diminished Jakarta's apparent conviction that the Aceh issue calls for a military solution, not a political one. Nor, after a five-month pause, have the rebels lost their taste for battle. Invited by Libyan-trained GAM commander Darwis Jeunib to a remote village in Biruen district in the north, I see a few dozen of some 1,000 soldiers he claims to lead. Though their AK-47s, strung with Acehnese flags, are antiques, their uniforms and army boots are box-fresh, making them better equipped than...
...Their numbers will swell in the coming days, even as government and GAM officials debate the future of the province and the soldiers keep arriving. In many Acehnese villages, boys run up to passersby to shout "Merdeka! (freedom)." For many GAM leaders, the word is still synonymous with independence. But among their people, who have had a first, unforgettable taste of peace, it also means freedom from fear and a chance to finally live a normal life. "We want our children to be able to go to school, get educated, stand on their feet," says teacher Mariani passionately. "A military...