Indonesia's armed forces commander yesterday announced the withdrawal of all troops deployed in the north Sumatran province of Aceh and apologised for human rights abuses by soldiers there in the past 10 years.
Their commander, Gen Wiranto, said he would recommend to President B. J. Habibie that an amnesty be granted to all 40 Acehnese political detainees, adding that activists who had fled the province were free to return.
Speaking to 500 government officials during a one-day trip to Aceh, Gen Wiranto said all troops except the local territorial forces would be pulled out in the next month.
"I sincerely apologise to all Aceh people for the acts of some soldiers," he said.
Indonesia sent the armed forces to the province to suppress a separatist insurgency in 1989. Two years later the government declared Aceh a military operations area, leading to a brutal army crackdown. More than 3,000 soldiers are stationed there.
Gen Wiranto said the military status would be lifted.
But human rights organisations, which claim to have discovered nine mass graves in Aceh in the past two months and say thousands of people are still missing, said he had not gone far enough.
"It is a good start but it is not nearly enough," said Mr Afridar Garne of the Aceh legal aid institute. In 1994 Amnesty International reported that the army murdered 2,000 Acehnese between 1989 and 1993. Local activists say the number of killed or missing is 2,500 and likely to rise.
David Shanks adds:
An underground East Timorese resistance source has questioned whether announced Indonesian troop withdrawals from the territory were meaningful and called for United Nations monitoring of the "confidence building" reduction of troop levels.
On Wednesday - the day Indonesia and Portugal agreed in UN talks to try and negotiate "special status" autonomy for the territory before the end of the year - five troops ships arrived at Dili the capital, the source said. However, the military said 263 army health personnel and police had arrived.
Welcoming them the local military chief, Col Tono Suratman, said they would not engage in combat or intelligence. The 155 army officers had skills in "mental counselling", it was reported.
Reflecting deep distrust the resistance source said: "The question is whether this is a preparation to manipulate the tripartite dialogue [between Indonesia, Portugal and the UN] or a preparation for `Kudeta' [a play on coup d'etat] against Wiranto power." The latter is a reference to the lingering loyalty enjoyed by former President Suharto's son-in-law, Lieut-Gen Prabowo, among troops in East Timor who oppose the pro reform Gen Wiranto.
"The East Timorese have been opposing the integration [with Indonesia] and how much more the special autonomy under Indonesia," the source said calling for the inclusion of the imprisoned Timorese separatist leader, Mr Xanana Gusmao, in any negotiations on the former Portuguese colony's future.
The arrival of the fresh personnel followed the departure of 300 troops, the second batch of 1,000 announced troop withdrawals, reports say. Indonesia says that 11,000 troops will remain after the current pull-out but the resistance estimates Indonesian troops strength at about double that.