Indonesia will not agree to an international probe into the massacre of 31 people in strife-ridden Aceh province because it would infringe upon its sovereignty, foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda said on Monday. We rule out the possibility of sending an international team to Aceh, Wirayuda said. The international community is aware this is a purely domestic problem.
The Indonesian military and guerrillas of the free Aceh movement have accused each other of carrying out Thursday's killings in a palm-oil plantation in eastern Aceh.
On Saturday, separatist leader Amri Abdul Wahab demanded an unbiased international probe, saying it would be the only way to determine which side was guilty.
The massacre by unidentified gunmen came as government forces escalated their offensive against separatist rebels who have extended their control over wide swathes of the countryside during the past two years.
Thursday's killings - the bloodiest single incident since Indonesian troops executed 54 teen-age students at an Islamic school in 1999 - coincided with president Megawati Sukarnoputri's announcement of her first cabinet.
Many analysts have predicted that Megawati, a staunch nationalist, will reverse former president Abdurrahman Wahid's efforts to reach a negotiated settlement with the rebels, and instead give the army a free hand in their campaign to crush the insurgency.
Bureau Report