Aceh is Jakartas dirty war, says Australia

Australia's muted criticism of Indonesia's armed offensive in Aceh this week is an indication of the Howard government's policy of not wanting to get involved in what Canberra considers Jakarta's 'dirty little war', analysts say.

Senior ministers commenting o­n Indonesia's latest offensive to crush rebels in the province condemned the separatists for embracing violence, and vowed to maintain expanding links between the two countries' armed forces.

''We accept that Aceh is part of Indonesia and they're (Jakarta) right to protect their own internal interests,'' Defence Minister Robert Hill (right) said of the Indonesian province at the northern tip of Sumatra island.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer (left) echoed that view. ''The violence perpetrated by the separatist movement is absolutely unacceptable,'' he said from London, speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Hill added that Australian military cooperation with the Indonesian army and its special forces unit, Kopassus, would not be affected by their involvement in Jakarta's offensive in Aceh, which went underway o­n May 19 after peace talks with the Acehnese rebels collapsed.

But analysts already see the writing o­n the wall - and expect little or no sympathy from Canberra as civilian deaths rise in the Aceh operations in the coming weeks and months.

''It's Indonesia's dirty little war and Canberra wants no part of it,'' said Patrick Walters, national security editor of The Australian daily newspaper.

''The Aceh offensive comes at a time when the government (of Prime Minister John Howard) has been carefully rebuilding links with the Indonesian security forces in an effort to combat terrorism,'' he added.

Waters said delicate negotiations were under way with Indonesia's army about plans to work with the Kopassus special forces o­n counter-hijack and hostage-recovery operations.

He also had a warning, as the death toll from Indonesia's military offensive mounts, Canberra will come under pressure to adopt a tougher line with Jakarta.

''In the coming months, expect Foreign Minister Downer and Defence Minister Hill to stick firmly to the script­: Aceh should be resolved through diplomatic negotiation and, at the end of the day, it's a matter Indonesia will have to sort out itself.''

Protracted violence

The Indonesian government's declaration of martial law in Aceh o­n Monday marked the end of the five-month-old ceasefire between Jakarta and the pro-independence Free Aceh Movement or Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM).

The agreement was signed in Geneva o­n Dec 9, 2002, but has in recent months been marred by clashes between GAM rebels and soldiers and allegations of truce violations o­n both sides.

In previous weeks, thousands of Indonesian troops, including Kopassus units, were deployed to Aceh in preparation for renewed operations against GAM.

Indonesia has been battling GAM since it was founded 27 years ago, in a conflict fuelled by decades of resentment by Aceh of Jakarta's profiting from its rich natural resources and human rights violations during efforts to quell the separatist insurgency.

Previous operations, according to Amnesty International and local rights groups, were characterised by widespread rights violations.

''Both sides have been responsible for serious abuses and ordinary civilians have overwhelmingly been the victims,'' said Amnesty in statement.

Last year alone, local human rights monitors estimate that over 1,300 people have been killed, the majority of them Acehnese civilians.

Local human rights groups estimate that more than 15,000 people have been displaced by the current military operations in Aceh, and that food and medical supplies are not reaching these people.

The opposition Labor party and Australian activists have renewed their call o­n the Howard government to initiate negotiations with Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the appointment of a special UN envoy for Aceh.

''Labor does not dispute that Aceh is part of Indonesia,'' said the opposition's foreign affairs spokesperson Kevin Rudd. ''But that fact has not prevented other countries from assisting in the attempted resolution of the conflict in the past.''

The short-lived cessation of hostilities agreement between the Indonesian government and GAM was mediated by the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

The process was supported by Japan, the United States and the European Union, which also pledged funds for Aceh's reconstruction.

But unresolved differences between GAM and the Indonesian military, including the Acehnese rebels' refusal to give up their call for independence, tore the agreement to tatters this week.

Rob Wesley-Smith of the Darwin-based Supporters of No War in Aceh was more blunt in calling for Canberra's intervention. ''We should be a party to demanding that the UN Security Council intervene. If necessary, we should support sanctions against Indonesia,'' he said.

But Sidney Jones, the Indonesia director of the International Crisis Group, pointed out that any Australian or UN-sponsored initiative o­n Aceh was likely to fall o­n deaf ears in Jakarta.

After all, Indonesia's senior politicians are still angry over what they regarded as Canberra's betrayal of their interests in Timor Leste (East Timor), which has since become an independent nation.

''There's certainly no role for the United Nations and probably no role for Australia, given the experience of East Timor (Timor Leste). The Indonesian government is so allergic to the UN in Aceh that they even don't allow the UN flag to fly there o­n Unicef buildings and so o­n,'' she told ABC TV.

''I think we're a long way from seeing a third party, accepted as neutral o­n both sides, come in. I think that the government (Jakarta) has had it with the negotiating process for now,'' added Jones.

Said the Australian National University's Harold Crouch: ''Our leverage is very little. The United Nations and Australia are mud in Indonesia because of East Timor (Timor Leste).''

In September 1999, Australia led a 5,000-member multinational task force to restore order in Timor Leste after Indonesia military-supported militias went o­n an orgy of violence following a UN-sponsored referendum where the East Timorese voted to break away from Indonesia.

Currently, Australia has more than 1,500 peacekeeping troops in Timor Leste, including a battalion stationed at the border with Indonesia-controlled West Timor.