 bdullah Syafii was shot dead during a raid on a hideout of the Free Acheh Movement (GAM) on Tuesday, said Brigadier General Jali Yusuf, the head of military operations in the province.
Amri bin Abdul Wahab, a GAM field commander, confirmed that Syafii, 54, and his wife, Fatimah, 50, were among seven rebels shot dead. "It is true that Tengku Abdullah Syafii and his wife have become martyrs. The five other victims were his personal guards," Amri told AFP. The bodies of Syafii and his wife were taken to Cubo, her home village, late Wednesday to be buried together sometime Thursday, according to local people.
Syafii had this week been invited for talks with the province's governor, Abdullah Puteh, in the latest attempt to end the intractable 25-year-old revolt which has claimed an estimated 10,000 lives. "The invitation for dialogue from Abdullah Puteh is some kind of trick and means to kill," said the statement from the rebels' military spokesman in Sweden, Sofyan Dawod.
Dawod said one of Syafii's bodyguards who escaped the raid saved important documents. "Something like a microchip was found in the corner of the thick envelope," he said in the statement.
The Acheh military spokesman, Zaenal Muttaqin, has said troops watched the hideout following tips from local residents that GAM members often visited it.
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The Widow Batalion, Inong Balee, is praying for freedom. |
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The military said troops called on nine people seen entering the hideout to surrender but were shot at. During a 20-minute firefight seven of the rebels were killed while two escaped.
In just the first three weeks of this year, 138 peoplemany of them civilianshave died in the battle for an independent state in the oil and gas-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
Amri said deputy commander Muzakir Manaf would take over until a new commander is chosen to replace Syafii. "His efforts and struggle will be continued by the GAM." In his last speech to fighters in the jungle, Syafii had told them he was ready to die any time. "What is important is that you all work to make Acheh independent," he quoted Syafii as saying.
Acheh military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin said 20 members of the army's special reserve unit Kostrad raided the hideout at the isolated hamlet of Sarah Panyang, 20 km (12 miles) east of the town of Sigli.
Muttaqin said the troops called on nine people seen entering the hideout to surrender but they opened fire.
He said the seven rebels were killed in a 20-minute shootout while two others, who are believed to have been wounded, escaped.
Troops found ammunition, a satellite handphone believed to have belonged to Syafii and a letter from a GAM "minister", Malik Mahmud, who is exiled in Sweden.
The letter ordered Syafii to form a new top-level military staff, Muttaqin said.
A photo shown to journalists by the military showed that Syafii suffered wounds to the back of his skull and to his chest. He was one of two Free Acheh Movement leaders who had been invited for peace talks.
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| The death of the charismatic Syafii, 54, his wife Fatimah alias Aisyah and five bodyguards were killed in the head and chest on Tuesday during fierce battle. Indonesia accused of treachery over Syafii's killing. |
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Puteh said Tuesday he sent Syafii a letter via a courier. "I hope he will soon reply," the governor said.
GAM had already rejected the peace overture. "GAM has no intention nor plan... to hold dialogue with representatives of the republic of Indonesia in Acheh," said a Sweden-based rebel spokesman, Teungku Isnandar, in a statement received earlier Wednesday. "GAM will only conduct dialogue with an equal party at the level of national leadership."
Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno has said any peace negotiations should be held with the local Acheh government, arguing that GAM is not a state.
Another Sweden-based spokesman, Bakhtiar Abdullah, said GAM's forces number "between 10,000 and 20,000."
Jakarta has held talks in Switzerland with GAM's exiled leadership over the last few years but ceasefires have always broken down.
The government last year passed a law granting Acheh greater self-rule and a much larger share of oil and gas revenue. It also allowed the staunchly Muslim region to implement Islamic law.
But rebels insist on nothing short of independence, a goal which the government has ruled out.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri has ordered the defence ministry and military chief to prepare for the revival of a separate military command for Acheh.
The plan to revive the command, disbanded in 1985, is opposed by rights activists and the people of Acheh, who said it would encourage a militaristic approach in solving problems.
© 2002 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved. |
