REBELLION IN SUMATRA

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28559, 12 April 1958, Page 13

REBELLION IN SUMATRA

“End To Come Within Ten Days” x (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 11. A high Indonesian Army source said yesterday that the Indonesian Government would end the Central Sumatran rebellion within 10 days, the American Associated Press reported from Jakarta. “The days of waiting are nearing an end,” the news agency quoted its informant as saying in an exclusive interview. Another military man, Captain Agus Soeroto, spokesman for the Indonesian Air Force, also said a big operation would be set in motion soon. The American Associated Press said the high military source asked not to be named, but he spoke with unquestioned knowledge and authority.

"We have delayed our action so far in an effort to avoid widespread casualties to the population in rebel areas. "We are not waiting for arms or aeroplanes or ammunition to arrive from America or East European countries, as American State Department officials appear to imagine," he had said. The news agency said the rebel strength was believed to be no more than 10,000, including irregulars and inexperienced students. The rebels had neither a Navy nor an Air Force. The Jakarta Government had a 200,000-man Army, an Air Force of about 26 Mustang fighters, and a few bombers, and a tiny navy of one destroyer and four corvettes, it said. A new amphibious Grumman Albatross plane, one of eight bought from the United States to reinforce the Air Force, arrived on Wednesday. The Air Force would buy several more such planes and some helicopters for search and rescue work.