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Conditions Improving in Aceh Says Indonesia's Top Security Minister
JAKARTA, Aug 23 (News Agencies) - Conditions in the war-torn Indonesian province of Aceh were improving and self-determination activists there are increasingly cornered, said Indonesia's top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono Thursday.
"After visiting Aceh, in general it can be concluded that the wheel of the government is now functioning better than before and the armed actions of the GAM [Free Aceh Movement] are decreasing, even though there are still sporadic attacks," Yudhoyono said.
The GAM has been fighting for an Islamic state in Aceh on Sumatra Island since 1976.
Yudhoyono, who led a top-level delegation to Aceh on Wednesday, said the activists were increasingly feeling the heat from security forces and were moving to areas previously spared violence, such as Central Aceh.
Yudhoyono, quoted by the state Antara news agency, said he believed GAM no longer had a strong force and was split between moderates and radicals.
"I caught a strong impression that the hardline elements in GAM only want independence, but there are also other elements which are not radical," he said.
Yudhoyono said the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri plans to extend peace talks, which so far have been limited to the government and GAM, to cover other elements of society. He did not elaborate.
Megawati has signed an autonomy law that gives Aceh control over 70% of its oil and gas revenues, among other provisions. She has promised a fresh approach based on dialogue, but ruled out independence - which the activists insist on.
Since last year, Jakarta has held a series of meetings with the GAM in Geneva, but they have only been able to agree on a series of shaky and short-lived truces.
In April, the then-government launched a new military operation that helped push the number of dead to more than 1,200 this year alone.
Meanwhile, U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil is expected to resume full operations in Aceh next month, the state Antara news agency reported.
Two natural gas fields are expected to resume production by early next month, Effendi Situmorang, a director of state energy firm Pertamina, was quoted as saying.
But ExxonMobil spokeswoman Julia Tumengkol told AFP she could not confirm any date for the resumption of full production in Aceh.
"We are still operating on a day-to-day basis and for the time being we are not able to say when a particular field will enter normal operations," Tumengkol said.
She said that ExxonMobil, which resumed limited operations last month, was reviewing the security situation in Aceh daily and therefore could not set a date yet.
ExxonMobil shut down work at three of its five Aceh gas fields in March, citing hijackings, arson, and kidnapping threats to its personnel from GAM members.
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