Word: gams
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...troubled peace that has prevailed in Indonesia's bloody Aceh province for the past four months is on the verge of unraveling. Negotiations between the separatist Free Aceh Movement (known by its Indonesian acronym GAM) and the Indonesian government broke down last week over trivial scheduling and venue changes. Meanwhile, more than 25,000 Indonesian troops in Aceh went on high alert, and the country's Navy chief warned that 14 warships could soon arrive off Aceh's coast...
...Indonesia A "cessation of hostilities" accord signed by Jakarta and the insurgent Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in December has brought "demilitarization" to the long-troubled province. The rebels are supposed to turn in their weapons within five months while Indonesian troops pull back to "defensive positions." Civilian killings have dropped from a pre-accord average of 87 per month to an average of 12. Businesses are re-opening and foreign aid has begun to arrive. Still, international monitors have cited both sides for violating the accord. Chief Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the deal is on the "brink...
...Nowhere are the two faces of the military?traditionally oppressive, potentially progressive?more evident than in Aceh, where the army is locked in a bloody battle for control of the province with the secessionist Free Aceh Movement, or GAM. Villagers living along Aceh's one main road welcome the TNI as an antidote to rampaging police units. But off the road, in benighted hamlets, little has changed. "Most TNI still behave the same way?brutally," says Fitri, a 22-year-old volunteer with Care Human Rights Forum, known locally as FP HAM. Fitri produces half a dozen photo albums...
...under fire three weeks before, while patrolling the village. "We wanted to return fire but there were children in the way," he recalls. Contact with locals is minimal. "Most people want to talk to us," he believes, "but they're just too scared." Scared, he means, of reprisals by GAM, which rights activists have also accused of kidnapping and intimidation. Sumitro says an elderly village woman was stabbed by GAM operatives after she was seen talking to one of his soldiers...
...Just how effectively this system operates is made clear by a spokesman for the fundamentalist Free Aceh Movement, better known by its Indonesian acronym gam. Agreeing to talk only by telephone and refusing to give even a nickname, the 10-year veteran of the murderous struggle - his wife and three children have all been killed in the fighting - says that he regularly places orders with arms syndicates for hundreds of weapons: M-16 and AK-47 automatic rifles, handguns and ammunition. Tracing a well-worn route, the weapons are bought in Thailand, sent down to Malaysia and then carried...