The Governor of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for Tamiang region, Zulfauzi alias Tengku Don, 45, surrendered in Sungai Iyu, Bendagara subdistrict, East Aceh on Saturday. Four of his friends also surrendered, together with one AK56 rifle and 26 rounds of ammunition. The military said that the four were picked up by an Intelligence Unit of the East Aceh Military Command.

Eighty-nine convicted Aceh separatist rebels boarded a military transport plane in their home province yesterday in the second such transfer to prisons on Indonesia's main island of Java. The prisoners, whose transfer follows that of 54 prisoners from Banda Aceh on Saturday, boarded a Hercules aircraft at the Malikul Saleh airbase in North Aceh district. A witness, who declined to be named, said the convicts arrived in five military trucks heavily escorted by members of the military police and the air force elite Paskhas unit. The airport was closed to the public but the boarding of the plane could be watched from the fence of the airport.However, the witness said he was too far away to be able to recognize any leader of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) among the convicts. The convicts were taken on board five trucks from Lhokseumawe, the main town in the district. The 143 prisoners are rebels sentenced to more than three years in jail. Indonesia's military said the transfer was necessary because prisons and detention facilities in Aceh can no longer accommodate more prisoners, adding that they hoped the transfer would influence other rebels to surrender.