Jakarta – At least 16 suspected Acehnese rebels were killed and nine arrested during a military offensive in Aceh from Thursday to Saturday, the Indonesian Military (TNI) said on Sunday.

A press release issued by the TNI said four civilians were also killed in the operation.

Lesley McCulloch – It is too easy for the world to forget Aceh, an embattled, silent and closed province in the northwest of Indonesia. The reason is simple: international journalists are prevented from entering legally and the local media are either embedded in the military or attacked – even kidnapped – when attempting to work independently.

Indonesian troops have killed nine more separatist rebels in Aceh province, the military said.

ID Nugroho and Tiarma Siboro, Situbondo/Jakarta – Aceh military operation commander Maj. Gen. Bambang Darmono will be replaced after leading the major offensive against rebels for almost six months.

Banda Aceh – Suspected Acehnese rebel commander Efendi Saputra committed suicide in his prison cell in Lhokseumawe district on Sunday, military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki said onMonday.

"Efendi Saputra, a subdistrict commander of the Acehnese separatist movement in North Aceh, hanged himself with a nylon rope," Basuki said in Lhokseumawe.

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta - Commemorating Hero's Day on Monday November 10, scores of student activist from the Yogyakarta Indonesian Youth Front for Struggle (Front Perjuangan Pemuda Indonesia, FPPI) held an action rejecting the extension of the military emergency in Aceh.

Jakarta – Indonesia has slammed the US, Japan and European Union for issuing a statement regretting the extension of martial law in Aceh province.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegwawa said the joint statement of the three powers was improper and smelt of interference in Indonesian sovereignty.

Jakarta - Condemnations against the government's decision to extend the military emergency in Aceh continue to spring up. On Saturday November 8, hundreds of people from Aceh Papua Solidarity (SAP) demonstrated, not just against the policy of extending the military emergency in Aceh but also the division of Papua [into three separate provinces].

Hestiana Dharmastuti, Jakarta - Around 2500 people from Aceh Papua Solidarity (Solidaritas Aceh Papua, SAP) will hold a demonstration rejecting the extension of the military emergency in Aceh. The demonstrators will hold a long march from the Hotel Indonesia roundabout to the offices of the Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security and the Presidential Palace.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesia warned against foreign meddling on Friday after the United States, Europe and Japan expressed concern over Jakarta's decision to extend martial law in rebellious Aceh province.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Experts criticized on Tuesday the government's decision to extend military offensive in troubled Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, arguing that the five-month operation had served as a proof that security approach could not resolve the Aceh question.

Jerry Norton, Banda Aceh – It looks like its going to be a long haul for Indonesian security forces fighting separatist rebels in Aceh.

The government is expected to announce on Thursday an extension of martial law in the province, and security officials in the provincial capital of 400,000 are careful to avoid predicting when it and the military campaign will end.

A high-level Acehnese separatist rebel who was reported killed by the Indonesian military last month has made a public appearance and thanked the army for saving his life.

The military reported last month that Dailami, 32, and his wife were shot dead during an exchange of fire with troops.

Jakarta - Although the initial suit was rejected by the panel of judges, the case against Presidential Decree Number 28/2003 on the declaration of a dangerous situation at the level of a military emergency in Aceh will continue.

Lesley McCulloch, Kuala Lumpur – When her husband died in January, Faridah (not her real name) fled with her two-and- a-half-year-old son from the province of Aceh in Indonesia's northwest. The heart attack that killed her husband was, according to Faridah, brought on by the stress of being hounded by the Indonesian military.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The Banda Aceh District Court sentenced on Tuesday three negotiators of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), including chief negotiator Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, and women activist Cut Nurasyikin, to prison terms of between 11 years and 15 years.

Banda Aceh – A court here on Tuesday handed a 13-year prison term to a negotiator for the separatist rebels of Aceh after convicting him of treason and planning acts of arson, murder and bombings.

Banda Aceh – A court here on Tuesday sentenced a female Aceh independence activist to 11 years imprisonment on charges of treason.

The Banda Aceh District Court said in its ruling Nur Asikin had been found guilty of committing an act of treason by her involvement in the struggle to separate Aceh from the unitary state of Republic of Indonesia.

Police have broken up a training session by Indonesia's official human rights commission in Aceh province, where the military is in its sixth month of a major offensive against separatist rebels.

Jakarta/Banda Aceh – Experts are calling for the revocation of martial law and the establishment of a transitional administration with full support from the central government in Nanggroe Aceh Darusalam in a bid to resolve the conflict there.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Experts have called on the government to lift martial law imposed on Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam since May 19 and back instead a clean, civilian government to lead the Acehnese to the 2004 general elections.

Banda Aceh – Government troops killed or captured up to 2,000 separatist rebels in the troubled province of Aceh during the first five months of an offensive aimed at crushing the 27-year-long insurgency, a military official said Monday.

Tiarma Siboro, Banda Aceh – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on Friday the Aceh operation would not be halted during the fasting month of Ramadhan, as had been demanded by rights activists.

Banda Aceh – A court here on Saturday sentenced a separatist rebel to 11 years in prison for his part in a long-running independence battle in the oil and gas-rich province of Aceh.

Lhokseumawe – Government troops gunned down 10 suspected rebels and three civilians were found dead in the latest violence in Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province, a local military spokesman said Friday.

Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – An international human rights watchdog on Wednesday identified at least six senior Indonesian military figures with histories of "gross" human rights violations who are now playing key roles in Jakarta's five-month-old offensive against separatists in Aceh.

Tiarma Siboro and Teuku Agam Muzakir, Jakarta/Lhokseumawe – The government dropped on Tuesday the clearest hint of its intention to extend the martial law now in effect in Aceh, saying that security must be maintained in the province to enable the Acehnese to vote in next year's elections.

Banda Aceh – At least five suspected members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were killed in the country's restive province of Aceh on Tuesday, the Indonesian Military (TNI) said.

The rebels were killed in separate gunfights in the districts of Bireuen, Pidie, and North Aceh, TNI spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki said in Lhokseumawe on Wednesday.

An international rights group called for Indonesia to ban officers accused of past abuses from involvement with the war against separatist rebels in Aceh province.

Indonesia's top security official, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has listed terrorism and seperatist wars in the provinces of Aceh and Papua as the major security threats facing his country. And Mr Yudhoyono, who is Co-ordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, says fighting separatist wars particularily in Aceh, is draining his country's struggling economy.

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) claimed on Sunday that it had killed another leader of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Aceh province.

Military operations spokesman Lt. Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki said government troops killed Nurdin, whose nom du guerre was Saddam Hussein, during a firefight at Langkahan in North Aceh district on Saturday.

Banda Aceh – The wheels of government in many sub-districts and villages in the province of Aceh are still not functioning properly. Of the 227 sub-districts in the province, only 151 are functioning while 76 others have been declared to not be functioning properly.

Jakarta – The Aceh Ad Hoc Team from the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has asked the government to immediately reduce the security status in Aceh from a military emergency to one of civil order. If the military emergency continues the political aspirations of the Acehnese people will be able to be expressed during the 2004 general elections.

Banda Aceh – A court martial in Aceh province on Friday cleared 12 soldiers of beating villagers during a hunt for separatist rebels in the province.

The twelve were on trial for assaulting about 50 residents at two villages in North Aceh's Dewantara area in late August after they failed to give information on the whereabouts of Free AcehMovement (GAM) rebels.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – An Aceh woman activist denied on Thursday the treason charge leveled against her, saying she had campaigned for a referendum as part of efforts to settle the prolonged conflict in the province.

"A referendum is demanded by the Acehnese to end the conflict," Cut Nurasyikin told the Banda Aceh District Court.

Dulhadi, Jakarta – A class action suit which was launched by the People's Lawyers Union (Serikat Pengacara Rakyat, SPR) against President Megawati Sukarnoputri, TNI [armed forces] chief General Endriartono Sutarto and the chairperson of the People's Representative Assembly (DPR), Akbar Tandjung, over the military emergency in Nangroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD), was rejected by a panel of

Indonesia's chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that separatist rebels in troubled Aceh province are the country's greatest threat, well ahead of terrorists. "Our top national security priority is fighting armed separatisms in Indonesia and here the most serious military threats came from the armed rebels in Aceh," he told a conference in Canberra Thursday.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The Medan district court is scheduled to begin the trial next week in Medan of 11 alleged members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on charges of planting bombs in three separate locations in Medan last year and early this year.

Amid the ongoing military operation to quell the armed rebellion in Aceh, it is very difficult to meet with GAM leaders. Ishak Daud, GAM Commander for East Aceh gave an exclusive interview to The Jakarta Post's Tiarma Siboro at his base camp in an undisclosed area in the province recently.

Jakarta – Aceh-Papua Solidarity (Solidaritas Aceh-Papua, SAP) – which is made up of a number of non-government organisations (NGOs) – has called on the government not to extend the military emergency in Aceh. In order to resolve the conflict, SAP is calling for a return to dialogue.

Tiarma Siboro, Surabaya – President Megawati Soekarnoputri pledged on Sunday to resolve the conflict in Aceh as quickly, wisely, and justly as possible but fell short of divulging any time frame or new ways of thinking about ending the rebellion there.

Banda Aceh – Eight separatist rebels and three civilians have been killed in Aceh province where an anti-rebel campaign is in its fifth month, the Indonesian military said Friday.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – The government pledged on Thursday to take stern measures against officials who misused humanitarian aid allocated by the state for Aceh but said the amount of losses was relatively small.

Tiarma Siboro, Surabaya – Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto called on soldiers on Thursday to uphold discipline as the armed forces were taking measures to restore their battered image.

Indonesia's military campaign to crush separatist rebels in Aceh province, now in its fifth month, has created a humanitarian crisis, a human rights group said in a report.

By Teuku Samsul Bahri

A. Grassroots economic situation

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The martial law administration in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam will immediately court-martial 12 soldiers on charges of torturing dozens of villagers in a move that seems calculated to show the international community the military's strong commitment to protecting Acehnese people's human rights.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government has played down the Human Rights Watch's accusation of gross human rights abuses in the ongoing military operation in Aceh, saying that such an accusation is groundless.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto claimed on Friday that government troops deployed in war-ravaged Aceh had significantly sapped the strength of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the four-month-old operation.

The division between Islamic and secular laws will be put to the test in the Indonesian province of Aceh, as the treason trial of five pro-separatist negotiators continues next week. The lawyer representing the men says his clients will claim that, as Acehnese nationalists, they only recognise provincial Islamic laws, and not those of the Indonesian state.