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Map of Southeast Asia |
Email this citationCIAO DATE: 06/04
Aceh: Why The Military Option Still Won't Work
May 9, 2003
Abstract
In June 2001, ICG wrote of the situation in Aceh: "The military solution is certain to fail as long as the security forces are incapable of exercising the degree of control and discipline over their troops necessary to prevent behaviour that alienates ordinary Acehnese".
As the 12 May 2003 deadline set by the Indonesian government for the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or GAM) to accept Indonesian sovereignty or face all-out war draws closer, nothing has changed. Military reform has stalled over the last two years, and there is no reason to believe that the planned offensive will be conducted any more carefully than those in the past. It will only be bigger. The Indonesian military (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI) is not using the phrase "shock and awe", but the stream of reports on the number of troops, tanks, and weapons being prepared for Aceh is designed to have the same effect.
