Indonesia’s troubled province of Aceh is close to renewed conflict, separatists from the Free Aceh Movement (Gam) have warned, as police arrested four of their negotiators. Gam ordered its fighters to take up defensive positions and cancelled all leave, after a fragile ceasefire agreed last December appeared to be crumbling. The Indonesian government is reinforcing its military presence in the province and has issued a deadline of Monday for the rebels to accept its terms for further talks. But the BBC’s Jakarta correspondent says the rebels show no sign of backing down. “The situation in the nation of Aceh today is entering the Second Colonial War,” Gam spokesman Sofyan Dawood said in a statement, comparing Jakarta to Dutch colonisers who invaded Aceh in the late 19th century. His comments came as police detained four Gam members of a joint committee established to monitor the ceasefire, according to a Gam official. It was not clear why they had been arrested. Full Story
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