Indonesia to pull out 6000 troops from Aceh this week

Indonesia will pull out 6,000 of 23,000 soldiers from Aceh province at the first phase of withdrawal this week, according to its commitment to the peace deal signed in August, a military spokesman said Monday.

On Tuesday, 2,600 troops will be withdrawn from the province, following the Yesterday's pulling out of 8,00 soldiers, spokesman Let. Colonel Erie Sutiko said.

Other withdrawals would be carried out on September 21, 23 and 25, the spokesman said.

"At this first phase of withdrawal, over 6,000 troops would be pulled out, totally 23,000 troops would be withdrawn ," he told Xinhua in telephone from the province.

"On September 20, four battalions, each consisting of 650 personnel will be pulled out from the province."

The withdrawal is a follow up of decommissioning 25 percent of Aceh rebels weapons. The handover and the pulling out are scheduled to be finished in four phases until December 31.

The Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed the peace pact on August 15 in Helsinky, Findland, in an effort to end a three-decade bloody conflict that has claimed over 15,000 lives, most of them were civilians.

Over 220,000 Acehnese were killed in December 26 tsunami disaster last year. The two sides agree to bring their dispute to a negotiation table following the catastrophe.

The peace pact will pave the work of aid agencies to implement 5 billion US dollars post-tsunami reconstruction program.

Aceh, with abundant natural resources, is a devoutly Muslim province of four million people with a long history of revolt against central authorities. One of the issue of the conflict is about the split of the revenue from the natural gas production.

Source: Xinhua