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By Amy Chew
JAKARTA, Aug 2 (Reuters) - In Indonesia's Aceh the body count is rising daily, a reminder that it is this rich and staunchly Moslem province with a history of rebellion which could truly fracture the country's fragile unity.
While international attention focuses on East Timor's struggle for independence from Jakarta, Indonesian officers say it is the Aceh freedom movement in the far west of the huge island chain which is the bigger threat to central rule.
And the problem is growing as political drift at the centre leaves a policy vacuum in Aceh, leaving frontline responsibility to an army whose only experience of political control has been one of active repression of separatist movements.
A military source said the Free Aceh separatist movement could prove a more intractable problem than the small band of Timorese freedom fighters who have been a thorn in the side of Jakarta for over 20 years.
``They are far stronger because they are well-organised, disciplined and not afraid to die for their cause,'' he said.
The potential for regional destabilisation if Aceh blows is also much higher. The province sits at the tip of Sumatra, facing Thailand and Malaysia, and right at the entrance of the important international shipping lane along the Straits of Malacca.
While Timorese have never been seen by most Indonesians as a key part of the Indonesian polity, a major split in Aceh could seriously expose the thin veneer of central control that keeps the country's melting pot of race and religion together.
Many Acehnese hate the rulers and the soldiers from the central island of Java, accusing them of long years of violent suppression, and of siphoning off the province's natural wealth.
Military sources say the army is confused about what to do, and some officers are suggesting the province should be turned into a military zone again.
``We have not received any directive on what to do from the president,'' said an intelligence source.
More than 200 people, including many civilians, have died in a series of ever-more-frequent clashes so far this year.
An attempt last week to get peace talks going between the government and rebels had limited success. A government-backed team sent to Sweden to meet exiled Free Aceh chief Hasan Tiro was snubbed and had to settle for his subordinates.
The same week, troops killed at least 71 people in a remote part of the mountainous region. The military say they were rebels killed in a gunfight, but witnesses say they were massacred. Free Aceh denies they were rebels.
The Free Aceh movement was formed in 1976, the year Jakarta annexed East Timor from its colonial Portuguese rulers in 1975.
After a generation of rebellion, Jakarta will let East Timorese choose independence or autonomy within Indonesia in an August 30 vote under a United Nations mandate.
Free Aceh wants the same. Many Acehnese boycotted the June 7 election, even though it was the first open vote after over three decades of tight control under fallen president Suharto.
Meanwhile, in Jakarta, Suharto's protege President B.J. Habibie lost to the populist opposition.
To get reelected as president he may yet have to rely on the factional support of 38 members of parliament who are directly nominated to their seats by the military.
``The problem is not in Aceh but in Jakarta. The military is waiting for a directive from the president,'' said Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the National Human Rights Commission and deputy chairman of Habibie's ruling Golkar party.
``In the meantime, the military has no option but to carry on with its operations,'' he said.
But Darusman said Habibie was in a dilemma over Aceh because any solution had to bring the army to account for the past.
``This would implicate the military and Habibie needs the armed forces to boost his chances for the presidency.''
The armed forces are blamed in Aceh for a series of rapes, killings and torture during a secretive nine year operation from 1989 to crush the rebels. Around 2,000 people are thought to have died then.
The rebels want all troops out as a pre-condition for peace talks, a demand which clearly will not be met any time soon.
In March, Habibie formally apologised to Aceh for past human rights abuses and promised to push ahead with a number of development projects.
But human rights investigators have documented years of abuses by the military, and have uncovered mass graves around the province, a legacy which makes a short-term political solution hard to see.
