Posted 11 October 2008 @ 03:32
JAKARTA, 11 October 2008 - Tengku Muhammad Hassan di Tiro, top leader of the former separatist organization Free Aceh Movement (GAM), arrived in Aceh Saturday from his exile, police said. He was greeted by enthusiastic people in Aceh as he and entourage passed by in the streets, said Tengku Adnan Brangsa, an aide of Tiro and the spokesman of the local party the Partai Aceh.
Tiro would stay in his homeland for about two weeks and planned to meet with Aceh leaders and local youth, said Brangsa. Tiro founded the GAM in 1976 and declared independence soon after. Since then, Aceh rebels and Jakarta were caught in a three-decade conflict that killed over 15,000 people. Tiro left Aceh in 1979 and led the insurgency for Aceh independence from Indonesia in Stockholm, Sweden.
In August, 2005, a peace accord was signed between Aceh rebels and Jakarta after the province was hit by the December 2004 tsunami that left over 170,000 dead. Over one thousand policemen have been dispatched for the occasion, said provincial police spokesman Farid Ahmad. "We deploy 1,125 personnel for the security, and some were responsible for protecting the leader Tiro," he told on telephone from the province.
Earlier, Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said that Tiro's visit should not be worrisome as long as he would not engage in political activities.
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