JSC escorts 2,500 Aceh refugees back home<\/p>\n
Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh<\/p>\n
More than 2,500 people who fled eight villages late last month
\nfor fears of attacks have returned home in the troubled province
\nof Aceh after receiving a security guarantee from the Joint
\nSecurity Commission (JSC), officials here said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The refugees were repatriated by at least 22 trucks to their
\nvillages in Lhoksukon subdistrict in North Aceh on Monday under
\nthe escort of nine JSC members, Henry Dunant Centre (HDC)
\nrepresentative and peace mediator David Gorman told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
The repatriation followed negotiations between JSC officials
\nand the refugees on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The JSC officials based in the district of North Aceh had
\nvisited the villages in question to ensure that peace was
\nrestored there before persuading the refugees to go home.<\/p>\n
M. Syahril Basyah, one of the refugees, said he and other
\nvictims were willing to return home after the JSC promised them
\nwith a security guarantee.<\/p>\n
\"The repatriation of these refugees shows that security
\nmechanisms established recently by the JSC are working,\" Gorman
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The villagers had fled to take refuge in a mosque and an
\nelementary school at Nga Mantang Ubi village, some 15 kilometers
\neast of Lhokseumawe in East Aceh district, on Dec. 30, 2002 to
\nescape possible attacks and terror.<\/p>\n
According to local village heads, the exodus was sparked by
\nthe establishment of government military posts located in and
\naround the eight villages, which they feared would be used to
\nlaunch attacks against civilian Acehnese.<\/p>\n
The village heads said soldiers had ordered them to expel
\nlocal civilians who patrolled their villages at night, but they
\nrefused to do so and ran away.<\/p>\n
Other villagers then followed suit to escape possible
\nbrutality by troops stationed at the two newly established
\nmilitary posts, the village heads added.<\/p>\n
Gorman said the JSC in North Aceh would continue monitoring
\nthe returning refugees to make sure that they remained safe in
\ntheir villages, despite the continued presence of the military.<\/p>\n
The repatriation of refugees was one of the most important
\nprograms being to date, and was prioritized by the JSC, which
\nincludes GAM members, government and foreign representatives
\nappointed by the Geneva-based HDC.<\/p>\n
Despite the efforts by the HDC, around 600 refugees are still
\nrefusing to leave the relative safety of a mosque in the Bagok
\narea in Nurussalam subdistrict, East Aceh, and 200 others are
\nalso staying at Lhoknibong village in the regency.<\/p>\n
\"They do not dare to go home because they are still
\ntraumatized,\" said Marzuki, an activist from the People Crisis
\nCentre (PCC) based in East Aceh.<\/p>\n
He said those currently in Bagok arrived on Dec. 10 last
\nmonth, one day after the peace deal was signed between the
\ngovernment and the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM).<\/p>\n
And the 200 refugees at Lhoknibong have been languishing there
\nfor nearly two years after they fled their villages in fear when
\nanother military post was built, Marzuki added.<\/p>\n
However, Aceh's Iskandar Muda Military chief Maj. Gen. Djali
\nYusuf denied that the establishment of the military posts
\nprompted thousands of villagers to flee their homes after the
\nDec. 5 truce.<\/p>\n
\"Such allegations have been manufactured,\" he said without
\nelaborating further.<\/p>\n
Djali claimed that the military had began, as a policy,
\nestablishing such military posts in several villages a long time
\nago to \"ensure security and peace for locals\".<\/p>\n
\"Yesterday they (villagers) asked us to maintain the posts,
\nwhy do they change minds now?\" he wondered, adding that the
\nsoldiers will continue to stay at the posts.<\/p>\n
Djali said he has yet to receive an order from the top
\nmilitary chief in Jakarta to cease or reduce the presence of the
\nmilitary in villages.<\/p>\n
Since the signing of the peace deal on Dec. 9, at least 12
\ncivilians, three rebels and four police and military members have
\nbeen killed, the HDC has said.<\/p>\n
An average of 87 civilians were killed every month in most of
\n2002 and an estimated 10,000 people have died since the
\nseparatist conflict began in Aceh in 1976.<\/p>",
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