JAKARTA/TOKYO, May 18: Indonesia’s president put Aceh province under martial law on Sunday and gave the green light for a major military assault against separatist rebels after last-ditch peace talks in Tokyo collapsed.

In a decree read out by an aide, President Megawati Sukarnoputri said the refusal of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels to accept Indonesian sovereignty over Aceh had endangered the province, requiring the imposition of martial law, effective immediately.

“All the parts of Aceh province are declared as being in a dangerous situation with their status now under a military emergency,” President Megawati said in the decree, read out at midnight.

The collapse of the Tokyo talks and a landmark peace agreement signed last December has condemned the resource-rich province to a renewed war that could be only hours away.

In line with regulations covering a military emergency, or martial law, Megawati put Aceh military commander Maj-Gen Endang Suwarya in charge of the staunchly Muslim region.

Jakarta-based military officials were not available to comment on when they might start an offensive. In Aceh, a military spokesman said forces were awaiting orders from Jakarta.

The government said the decree would be effective for six months.

The rebels earlier responded defiantly, saying they were ready to resume one of Asia’s longest-running separatist conflicts that has killed 10,000 people since 1976, and they would also appeal to the UN to intervene.

“The Indonesia government wishes to continue their war on the Acehnese,” rebel leader Mahmood Malik told reporters after a gruelling 12-hour session of talks in Tokyo.

“We will fight. We are ready. We have been fighting already for 27 years,” added Mr Malik, looking worn and close to tears.

Giving up their demand for independence had been the key condition Jakarta had demanded of the rebels.

The government’s chief negotiator, Wiryono Sastrohandoyo, said Indonesia had worked hard to find an agreement.

“But there is one thing that is not negotiable and that is the integrity and sovereignty of the nation,” he said.

BICKERING & MISTRUST: The peace agreement has been beset by bickering and mistrust over the issue of independence, which GAM has long demanded but Indonesia refuses to give. The peace pact did not address this in detail, focusing more on trying to halt the fighting.