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Elsewhere in Indonesia, promising peace talks
between Jakarta and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) insurgents
broke down in May when the parties could not capitalize
on a previous agreement giving limited autonomy to Aceh.
A six-month martial law declaration was swiftly followed
by the first wave of an estimated 40,000 government troops
sent into the area to deal with the estimated 5,000-member
GAM. Aceh had been an independent sultanate before incorporation
into Indonesia in 1949; the current secessionist drive,
which started in 1976, has left more than 11,000 people
dead. In November, the six-month declaration of martial
law was extended in the province.
Malaysia
Following a cease-fire declared in late May 2003, promising
talks between Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) were briefly interrupted in August when the MILF
revealed its chairman had suffered a fatal heart attack
the previous month. However, the two sides resumed meetings
in Malaysia in an effort to end the 31-year-old conflict
that has taken at least 120,000 lives. Manila has also
tried to revive official peace talks with the Maoist New
People's Army, but has not been successful. The group
has been blamed for attacks in October against police
posts and in December against government troops, the latter
occurring on the same day that the traditional Christmas
truce was announced. The other main armed opposition group,
the regional kidnap-for-ransom Abu Sayyaf, lost two of
its leaders in 2003, with the second, Galib Andang, captured
in mid-December.
Solomon
Islands
In July, lawlessness in the Solomon Islands drew the intervention
of a six-nation, combined military and police regional
peacekeeping force numbering 2,300 men led by Australia.
Bands of ethnic "militia" from different islands
had terrorized the islanders for five years, killing hundreds.
The government, although paralyzed by the fighting, managed
to get legislation approved endorsing the intervention.
Faction leaders declined to challenge the intervention
force, and the level of fighting subsided. By late October,
part of the military force was able to withdraw. Much
remains to be done in terms of rebuilding the institutions
of government and restoring confidence in the ability
of the islanders to govern themselves.
North
Korea
On the Asian mainland, tensions remain between the U.S.
and North Korea. The next meeting in the sporadic talks
between the two nations, along with South Korea, Japan,
Russia, and China, is set for January 2004, but little
progress is expected. In China itself, the government
seems to be accelerating its crackdown on the 11 million
Muslim ethnic Uighurs who inhabit Xinjiang province. Chinese
officials cite the convergence of "ethnic splittism,
religious extremism, and violent terrorism" as the
reason they named four groups as terrorist organizations.
Moreover, in September, Beijing claimed that "Islamic
separatists" based in Xinjiang were being trained
by Taliban adherents in camps in Pakistan (BBC online,
December 15, 2003).
This
analysis was prepared by Col. Dan Smith, U.S. Army (Ret.).
Dan, a West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran, is FCNL's
Senior Fellow on Military Affairs.
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