JAKARTA - Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province urged Malaysia today to release more than 200 Acehnese asylum-seekers detained by the authorities last week.

Ishak Daud, a senior commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), said Malaysia should not repatriate them like it did to a group of Acehnese in 1998.

"The Malaysian government must protect Acehnese who fled the war caused by the Indonesian military and police operations," Daud told AFP by telephone.