Aceh talks end 'in failure'

Jakarta's chief negotiator says he is open to further talks

Peace talks between the Indonesian Government and separatist rebels from the province of Aceh have ended without agreement.

A mediator from the Henri Dunant Centre said the last-ditch talks in Tokyo had proved "unsuccessful", prompting fears of renewed fighting in the province.

Government forces have already been heavily reinforced in Aceh and, after the talks collapsed, rebel leader Mahmood Malik said his group was ready for war.

But Jakarta's chief negotiator, Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, said his government was still open to further talks, the French news agency AFP reports.

Officials in Jakarta said President Megawati Sukarnoputri might convene a meeting of senior security ministers as well as military and police chiefs late on Sunday.

Chief Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned on Saturday that military action would be taken against the separatists unless they accepted that Aceh was part of Indonesia.

Hours before the two-day meeting in Tokyo ended, an aide to the minister said the rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) were refusing to give up their demand for independence.

Pressure

The Tokyo talks were an attempt to rescue a peace pact signed in December - under which Aceh would be given autonomy but not independence - that has virtually collapsed.

The Indonesia Government wishes to continue its war on the Acehnese... We will fight, we are ready

Mahmood Malik
rebel leader

More than 10,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have been killed in decades of conflict between the Jakarta government and the rebels in Aceh.

There appeared to be little room for compromise at the talks, and the atmosphere was soured by the detention of five rebel delegates on Friday.

The rebels are unwilling to drop demands for independence while Jakarta is only prepared to offer regional autonomy and wants the rebels to disarm.

The Tokyo talks were organised at short notice in response to intense pressure from Indonesia's donor countries.

Japan is one of those countries, and hosted an international conference on aid to Aceh just before the December peace agreement was reached.