JAKARTA -- Indonesia was rocked by fresh separatist protests yesterday as thousands took to the streets in the restive province of Aceh and on the island of Sulawesi to demand independence.

In staunchly Muslim, resource-rich Aceh, as many as 10,000 people joined a convoy of cars, trucks and buses in the industrial city of Lhokseumawe, witnesses said.

They chanted: "Referendum! Referendum!"

Both President Abdurrahman Wahid and another top politician, Mr Amien Rais, have said a speedy resolution of the crisis in Aceh, the northern tip of Sumatra, should be a top government priority.

Around 2,000 people were believed to have died in the province in a nine-year military operation to crush a pro-independence separatist movement.

Although that operation ended officially last year, clashes have continued, claiming well over 200 lives in Aceh this year.

East Timor's vote for independence on Aug 30 and impending United Nations-supervised independence have prompted increasing calls for a similar referendum in Aceh, one of Indonesia's most mineral-rich provinces.

In Makassar on the island of Sulawesi, around 2,000 students yesterday took to the streets to demand a separation of the island from Indonesia, witnesses said.

They dispersed peacefully by the afternoon.

The region has been hit by several separatist protests since last week, when former President B. J. Habibie failed in his re-election bid. Dr Habibie was born in a town near Makassar.

Indonesia's recent presidential and vice-presidential elections capped an 18-month transition to democracy from the long rule under disgraced former President Suharto.

Indonesia, a country of 300 different ethnic groups, faces separatist pressures in several trouble spots, including the vast eastern province of Irian Jaya. --Reuters