Philippine Daily News/AFP
May 19, 2003

Banda Aceh- Police in Indonesia's Aceh province early Monday rearrested five separatist rebel negotiators following the failure of peace talks in Tokyo, a senior officer said.

"If they can't negotiate any more they must be seen as violators of the law," Banda Aceh's deputy police chief, Major Ari Rahman, told AFP.

The five Free Aceh Movement (GAM) delegates were originally arrested Friday morning on their way to the Tokyo talks and were freed the following day evening.

They were driven at high speed in a convoy of unmarked police cars from the Kuala Tripa hotel, where some of them have lived for two years during sporadic peace negotiations.

Rahman said the five "have carried out acts of terror."

Police accuse GAM of staging bombings in Jakarta and the city of Medan although GAM denies this.

Rahman said the rebels had also committed a violation by promoting separatism.

He said the five had earlier told him they were prepared to be rearrested. He quoted one of them as saying, "we just submit to our fate."

Hours after the Tokyo talks broke down Indonesia issued a presidential decree authorizing a military operation and imposing martial law in the province on Sumatra island.