JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's military said Thursday said it would start withdrawing troops this month from its rebellious north Sumatran province Aceh, where it has promised to end its hardline tactics.

In an apparent conciliatory gesture toward the staunchly independent province, it named an Acehnese as deputy chief of the country's armed forces. Many analysts have predicted that Aceh's break from Jakarta would herald the disintegration of Indonesia.

``This month of November we will immediately start withdrawing (troops) in phases,'' armed forces spokesman Major-General Sudrajat told reporters.

He added Indonesia's new deputy armed forces chief would be Lieutenant-General Fahrul Razi, who is from Aceh.

Many political analysts blame years of brutal military crackdown in the staunchly Muslim province for feeding the move to break away from Jakarta's rule.

Wednesday, newly appointed military commander Admiral A.S. Widodo said the ``security approach'' could no longer be expected to solve the problems in the resource-rich province and that troops there would be scaled down.

for comments, suggestions, and information
please contact: permias_fresno@hotmail.com
Permias Fresno 97-2000 all rights reserved.

• Federal System Not The Right Thing 07/12/99
• Overall Mutations In Armed Forces
  Professionals Preferred.
  05/11/99
• Golkar's Punishment Will Be More Of A Moral Nature If Proven Guilty
  05/11/99
• Indonesia Says Aceh Independence Vote Possible
  04/11/99
• Indonesia To Withdraw Troops From Aceh This Month. 03/11/99