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Indonesian Navy to Send Warships to Aceh
Indonesian Navy will move some of its warships with around 600 marine corps personnel to Aceh to support the government's plan on a limited security operation in the troubled province.
"The navy will screen off the area to prevent assistance from outside and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members from leaving the area by sea," Navy chief Admiral Indroko Sastrowiryono said after his inauguration as honorary member of the marine corps in Situbondo, East Java province, on Wednesday.
He could not tell the number of the ships to be deployed there as the operation itself had not been carried out. However he added that the number would depend on the degree of the threat to security.
Sastrowiryono supported the operation saying it reflected the firm action of the defense forces and the government in dealing with separatism in the country.
He said there were now no longer any obstacles in carrying the duty in Aceh because there was already an "umbrella" for it, namely the government's decision to carry out the limited security operation.
Marines chief Major General Harry Triono, meanwhile, said besides the 600 marines, a company consisting of around 150 marines was currently also being trained at Batujajar in Bandung, capital of West Java province, along with personnel from the Army and the Airforce for immediate dispatch to Aceh.
"Actually a military operation should have been done in Aceh long ago. In any country in the world separatism is always unjustified. This is what the entire nation has to understand, because if ignored separatism could cause national disintegration, " he added.
GAM has been fighting for an Islamic state since the mid 1970s. Thousands of people have been killed during the clashes between the government troops and the Acehnese rebels.
Despite the cease-fire agreement reached by the government and leaders of the GAM, violence has continued in the province.
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