Aceh gets 13 new district chiefs<\/p>\n
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Military will stamp its territorial control on the
\nrestive province of Aceh when 13 military officers are installed
\non Monday as new district chiefs in areas known as strongholds of
\nthe Free Aceh Movement (GAM).<\/p>\n
The administration in those areas has long been abandoned
\nduring years of armed conflict in the province.<\/p>\n
The districts are situated in the regencies of Pidie, Bireun,
\nNorth Aceh, East Aceh, West Aceh, and Southwest Aceh. According
\nto the martial law administration spokesman Col. Ditya
\nSoedarsono, most of the 39,353 refugees are sheltered in those
\ndistricts.<\/p>\n
From a total of 223 districts in the province, only 140 of the
\ndistricts are functioning, Ditya said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
After 56 days of the joint operation to crush GAM rebels and
\nsupporters, tension remained high as two civilians were killed
\nnear their homes. The perpetrators remain unknown.<\/p>\n
Bachtiar Musa, 58, a farmer of Dayah Panjoe hamlet, Bireuen
\nregency, was found dead in a banana plantation only 50 meters
\nfrom his backyard, with gunshot wounds to the head. Residents
\nclaimed they did not hear any gun shots.<\/p>\n
Formerly a bus driver, Bachtiar talked to reporters on
\nSaturday as a witness to an earlier armed conflict between the
\nmilitary and GAM.<\/p>\n
The other dead body was found in Muara Tiga district in Pidie.<\/p>\n
According to Ditya, GAM had also burned a relay station
\nbelonging to the state television TVRI at Bangkeh village,
\nGeumpang district in Pidie on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The joint forces of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the
\nNational Police claimed to have killed five more GAM personnel
\nand arrested five others on Sunday, bringing the total of rebels
\nshot dead to 437 and separatists arrested to 345 since martial
\nlaw was imposed in the province on May 19.<\/p>\n
Separately in Pidie, an arrested GAM member admitted that
\nthere was still over 200 GAM personnel in Merdu district who
\npossess a dozen AK-47 and M-16 rifles, as well as pistols and
\nother types of automatic rifles.<\/p>\n
Arrested on July 6 by patrolling police in Grung-grung hamlet,
\nMeracan, in Merdu district, Razali, 37, who was suffering from
\nasthma, claimed that he was forced to join GAM by its Meracan
\nmilitary commander Syaiful, who is a childhood friend.<\/p>\n
\"He said I could get between Rp 3,000 (around 23 US cents) and
\nRp 5,000 a week if I joined them. I needed the money to cover my
\nmedical treatment. But since I joined them in May, I only got Rp
\n8,000,\" he told reporters at Pidie Police station.<\/p>\n
He further said that during the one-month initiation, he had
\nundergone three trainings and had been included in two ambushes.
\n\"I was put in Bentara GAM (the police force of GAM's armed wing).
\nI had a yellow uniform with an emblem on the right sleeve. But I
\nwas only allowed to use the uniform by Syaiful, who keeps all the
\nuniforms, during the ambushes,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Pidie Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Malik said that the
\npolice would deploy 11 trucks of food supplies for the residents
\nof the isolated Geumpang regency.<\/p>\n
\"They had run out of food because we could only send them
\nsupplies once a month because the road to access the regency is
\nvery dangerous, making us a sitting duck for GAM attacks,\" he
\ntold reporters.<\/p>",
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