The Indonesian Ministry of Defense has proposed additional budget of 526 billion rupiah (around 53.7 million US dollars) intended for security operations during the " transition period" after the government and Aceh rebels sign peace accord scheduled for Aug. 15.

Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said Thursday the security operations in Aceh were estimated to cost at least 2 trillion rupiah (204.3 million dollars).

He expressed a hope that the House of Representatives' budget committee would soon endorse the proposal, which was originally submitted by Military Chief Endriartono Sutarto.

The national defense budget has been stated at 21.9 trillion rupiah (2.2 billion dollars) in this fiscal year, but Juwono said the budget didn't include the 526 billion rupiah additional budget for Aceh.

"The additional budget (for Aceh) is outside the 21.9 trillion rupiah budget jointly submitted by the Ministry of Defense and the Military Headquarters," he told reporters.

Source: Xinhua