U.S. Urges Aceh Negotiated Deal (fwd)

["M.G.G. Pillai" <pillai@mgg.pc.my>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 04 Mar 2000 13:07:11
From: tapol@gn.apc.org
Reply-To: "Conference act.indonesia" <indonesia-act@igc.org>
To: Recipients of indonesia-act <indonesia-act@igc.org>
Subject: U.S. Urges Aceh Negotiated Deal

From: TAPOL <tapol@gn.apc.org>

Received from Joyo Indonesian News

Associated Press
March 3, 2000

U.S. Urges Aceh Negotiated Deal

By SLOBODAN LEKIC

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - While affirming Indonesia's ``territorial 
integrity,'' the United States today urged President Abdurrahman Wahid not to 
use force in quelling a bloody separatist rebellion in the country's north.

Concluding a two-day visit to Jakarta, Thomas R. Pickering, undersecretary of 
state for political affairs, said the United States supports Indonesia's 
``territorial integrity and is not in favor of dividing up Indonesia.''

But he cautioned against continuing an offensive against rebels in the 
country's northern Aceh province, which has been wracked by separatist 
violence.

``We don't believe that the problem can be resolved ... by the use of 
military force,'' Pickering said. ``We believe the problem must be resolved 
through the process of dialogue, discussions and negotiations.''

Pickering also voiced strong support for Indonesia's political and economic 
reforms.

He noted that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had singled out Indonesia 
as one of four countries making the transition to democracy that deserved 
special attention and U.S. aid. The three others are Colombia, Nigeria and 
Ukraine.

While Pickering had praise for the Indonesia's democratic transition, he 
warned that more violence was unlikely to settle the 25-year-long Aceh 
conflict, where police said today 13 people were killed in the latest 
violence.

Lt. Col. Syafei Aksal, a local police chief in Aceh, said four decomposed 
bodies were found Thursday in North Aceh district. He said all the dead 
bodies, one of them headless, were beyond recognition.

At least 5,000 people have been killed in the province during the past decade.

In West Papua, Indonesia's easternmost province, police fired on dozens of 
indigenous Papuans attacking a police station, authorities said today. Two 
Papuans were killed in Thursday's clash.

After the first free elections in 44 years in Indonesia, Wahid took office in 
October with the aim of reviving the country's moribund economy and reform 
its corruption-ridden institutions while dealing with multiple separatist and 
religious conflicts.

He met with President Clinton in Washington in November, and a number of 
high-level bilateral meetings have followed.

Last month, the Clinton administration announced that U.S. aid to Indonesia 
in 2000 would increase by 66 percent, from $75 million to $125 million.

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TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign
111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath,
Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Phone: 0181 771-2904   Fax: 0181 653-0322
email: tapol@gn.apc.org
Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol
Campaigning to expose human rights violations in
Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh

26 years - and still going strong 
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