AP, JAKARTA : Libya plans to give Indonesia military equipment and expertise to help fight rebels in Aceh province to compensate for allowing the insurgents to train in the country in the 1980s; a media report quoted the military chief as saying Wednesday.
During the 1980s, around 400 Aceh rebels received training in Libya , Indonesian military officials and insurgents say. It is not clear what role, if any, Libya 's government played in the training.
Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said Libya would send several instructors who trained the rebels to Jakarta to help Indonesian forces track the insurgents down, Media Indonesia reported.
He said Libyan officials had promised Indonesia 's military two MI 35 helicopters, but he was hoping for more. He also said that Tripoli had promised to give an unspecified number of BTR 60 armored personnel carriers and amphibious vehicles.
A military spokesman declined to comment on the report because he hadn't seen it yet. Libyan Embassy officials were not available.
The rebels who received training in Libya reportedly returned to Aceh in 1989. Military officials regard the fighters as the most dangerous and professional of the insurgents, who are believed to number around 5,000.
Jakarta began a fresh offensive in May against the rebels, who have been fighting for an independent state in oil and gas rich province since 1976. At least 1,000 people most of them men identified by the military as insurgents have been killed.
Violence in the province has continued despite calls for a cease-fire during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. In the latest violence, troops shot and killed seven alleged guerillas in different parts of the province, said army spokesman Lt. Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki.
Troops also seized several weapons, including an M-16 machine gun, an AK-47 assault rifle, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
