Hundreds of Indonesian paratroopers dropped into Aceh on Monday morning, the vanguard of a massive military operation ordered by President Megawati Sukarnoputri in the troubled province after last-ditch peace talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) broke down in Tokyo on Sunday.
Indonesian artillery launched rocket attacks on suspected rebel bases in what has been billed as the biggest military campaign since the 1975 invasion of East Timor. The presidential go-ahead for the offensive followed the imposition of martial law in Aceh for an initial period of six months.
Security officials in Jakarta said the government was left no other option after GAM's refusal to end its 27-year struggle for independence. But Indonesian human rights campaigner Munir says the story is not so simple.
Edwin Mooibroek´s interview with Munir, 3´45"Because on the one hand, the TNI [the military] fear an agreement would have given more space to the Acehnese people to pursue freedom from Indonesia. On the other hand, the Free Aceh Movement also didn't want to compromise and tried to take the opportunity to consolidate their power and destabilize the situation. The civilian authorities in Indonesia depend on the assessment of the military and they just didn't want new preparations for a political decision to solve the problems in Aceh."
Preparing for war
Mr Munir stresses that the Indonesian top brass has been preparing for an attack for weeks. The number of troops and police was recently boosted from 38,000 to more than 45,000 as fighter planes and warships were readied for the offensive. The Free Aceh Movement, which has an estimated 5,000 fighters, also beat the drums of war, saying it was ready to resume the separatist war that has already killed 10,000 people. The shaky ceasefire deal signed last December was a sham, says Mr Munir, because neither side was genuinely interested in a political settlement.
"The peace agreement was just another step towards violence in Aceh as it received very limited endorsement from the military and from political circles in Jakarta. Although many local people in Aceh supported the agreement, it was Free Aceh Movement that destabilized the situation."
The i-word
The Aceh peace agreement was undermined by the very issue it had set out to resolve: the question of independence, which GAM has long demanded but Indonesia refuses to give. Instead of addressing the issue in detail, the pact focused more on ways to halt the fighting. By opting for war, rather than dialogue, both sides run the risk of further alienating the Acehnese people.
That risk is greater for the Indonesian government, says Mr Munir. "We may now see civilians join the GAM, because when they have to choose between Jakarta or their own people, they will choose their own people."
The impact
The human rights activist fears the consequences of all-out war in Aceh: deterioration of the overall humanitarian situation, systematic killing of the civil society movement in Aceh, already targeted by both sides, and a boost to the military's influence on politics in Jakarta. The civilian authorities cannot control the military, he says, and this is unlikely to change after next April's general election.
"Continuing the dialogue is the only solution, but I think much will depend on the political situation in Jakarta after the next election, which will show who's really in control in Indonesia."
Tags: Aceh, agreement, Free Aceh Movement, GAM, Indonesia, peace