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Rally in Aceh demanding an independence referendum |
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November 12, 2000
BANDA ACEH (AP) - Despite threats of violence from security forces, tens of thousands of people rallied Saturday in Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province demanding an independence referendum. As a military helicopter hovered overhead and armored vehicles stood guard, a convoy of hundreds of cars, trucks and motorbikes drove through the city honking their horns and carrying banners calling for a U.N.-supervized plebiscite for the region's 4.1 million people. "I am here to demand a referendum and independence for our homeland," said Abdurrahman, a truck driver who like many Indonesians only uses one name. The official Antara news agency said hundreds of thousands were taking part in the rally, however independent eyewitnesses said the figure was lower. At the city's main mosque, tens of thousands of people gathered to listen to clerics calling on the staunchly Muslim Acehnese to pray for independence and peace. Separatists - who claim wide public support - have been fighting for independence for their oil- and gas-rich homeland since 1975. At least 5,500 people have been killed there in the past decade. The conflict poses a serious threat to Indonesia's government which is struggling to stamp out separatist and sectarian conflicts in other regions and prevent this sprawling archipelago nation from splitting apart. In the past four days leading up to the rally, at least 21 people have been killed. Most of the victims were shot by security forces and on Friday reformist-minded Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid blamed the army and police for the deaths. However, a police chief in Aceh, Lt. Col. Sayad Hussein, warned on Saturday there would be violence if the rally, which last year attracted about 250,000 people, went ahead. In an effort to prevent further bloodshed, the rally's organizers officially postponed early Saturday the show-of-force, despite people already gathering around Banda Aceh. "The police and military have demanded we cancel the rally and are stopping people from coming to the city," said Radhi Darmansyah, a spokesman of the Information Center for Aceh's Referendum. For several days, police and soldiers have blocked roads leading into the city and even blew up two bridges in the north of the province to prevent people from reaching the capital. Darmansyah also accused the security forces of making threats of violence against many of the group's leaders. Indonesia's government announced on Thursday that it planned to meet with the rebel group, the Free Aceh Movement, in Switzerland next week to try to stem a recent escalation in bloodshed. On June 2, government and rebel representatives signed an unprecedented truce accord in Geneva. They have since met several times to prolong the cease-fire. But fighting in the province has continued leaving about 221 people dead since then. Aceh is Indonesia's westernmost province on the tip of Sumatra island, about 1,750 kilometers (1,100 miles) northwest of Jakarta.
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