Indonesian military in Aceh no longer offensive: commander

Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Commander General Endriartono Sutarto asserted Tuesday the TNI is no longer in offensive position following the signing of peace accord between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"The TNI is not in offensive position beginning today," the commander told a large group of soldiers in the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh.

He ordered the troops to stop hunting GAM rebels to show support for the peace accord signed in Helsinki Monday.

The TNI will fully comply with the peace agreement and "I hope GAM will do the same," said Sutarto.

Meanwhile, GAM spokesman Sofyan Dawood told Jakarta-based Metro TV that GAM is ready to hand 840 guns to the monitoring mission as required by the Helsinki agreement.

Source: Xinhua