Indonesia has backed down on a plan to ask the UN to declare the separatist Free Aceh Movement a terrorist organization -- apparently hoping to avoid an international spotlight on the 27-year-old rebel war.
"We have considered this fully. But we do not want to internationalize the Aceh issue," Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's security minister, told reporters on Monday.
Yudhoyono did not elaborate on what he meant. But some believe the government's change of heart reflects a reluctance to have international observers and other foreigners monitoring the situation in Aceh, where aid work and media coverage have been sharply curtailed in recent months.
More than 1,000 people, most of them alleged rebels, have been killed since Indonesia launched its current offensive in May after peace talks between the rebels and government broke down.
The 35,000-strong Indonesian military presence in the westernmost province today will be extended for another six months. Yudhoyono said the government had no plans to enter a new round of peace talks with the rebels, an option that had earlier been considered.
Although many countries have backed Indonesia's fight against the rebels, none has openly supported its bid in the UN to have the Free Aceh Movement declared a terror group.
Yudhoyono said Indonesia is instead asking other countries to declare the Aceh rebels criminals rather than terrorists.
Listing the group as a terrorist group would oblige UN members to arrest Acehnese rebel leaders -- many of whom are exiled in Sweden, Malaysia and the US -- and freeze their assets.
The government said earlier that the rebels could be labeled terrorists because they sought to terrorize the region by setting off bombs, killing civilians and setting public buildings ablaze.
However, Indonesian courts to date have not linked the rebel group to any specific terrorist act.
Jakarta insists that Aceh must remain part of Indonesia, but it has offered the region greater autonomy. The rebels, who want independence, have rejected previous offers of greater autonomy and additional revenues from the province's plentiful oil and natural gas.
The Free Aceh Movement has been fighting for an independent state on the northern tip of Sumatra island since 1976, when Jakarta broke a promise to give the province increased autonomy.
About 12,000 people have died in the Aceh war, many of them civilians.
Human rights groups have accused both the military and rebels of widespread human rights abuses.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese