JAKARTA, May 17: Indonesia warned Aceh rebels meeting for last-ditch peace talks in Tokyo that they had to give up their fight for independence by Sunday or face an imminent military assault in the resource-rich province.

Rattling off demands the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is unlikely to accept, chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the rebels also had to lay down 60 percent of their weapons this month if they wanted to save an ailing peace agreement.

“If the response from GAM does not answer our demands positively, then the integrated operations will be implemented with a presidential decree that will be issued tomorrow or at the latest, May 19,” Yudhoyono told reporters late on Saturday.

The key plank of what Indonesia calls its planned “integrated operations” in Aceh is a military offensive that would be one of its biggest since the 1975 invasion of East Timor.

Yudhoyono said it was almost certain a presidential decree would be issued by Monday at the latest, but added it would be revised should the rebels heed Indonesia’s demands.

That would presumably dilute the military aspect of an operation that also calls for humanitarian and other efforts.

Yudhoyono, speaking after a meeting with President Megawati Sukarnoputri and other key ministers, said the government’s position had been conveyed to Jakarta’s negotiators in Tokyo.

He said this was presented to GAM leaders there on Saturday night, and they would respond on Sunday.

Yudhoyono said putting Aceh under martial law was not the only option should GAM refuse to accept the demands, adding it could come under a civilian emergency. Martial law would put the military in charge, while a civilian emergency is one step down.

The Tokyo talks are a final attempt to rescue the landmark December agreement, which had helped temporarily douse one of Asia’s longest-running separatist wars.

However, GAM’s refusal to give up its demand for independence and accept special autonomy, something the pact skirted over, has been the major trigger for the imminent renewal of hostilities.

Highlighting the growing tension, Indonesian troops killed seven rebels on Saturday in a clash over the hoisting of a separatist flag in the province’s south.

Aceh is some 1,700kms northwest of Jakarta on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

More than 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in decades of simmering conflict between the government and the rebels in the staunchly Muslim province.—Reuters