Military sets deadline for Sudjono's arrest<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): Chief of Siliwangi Military Command Maj. Gen.
\nSlamet Supriyadi has ordered the provincial military police to
\ncapture Lt. Col. Sudjono, an Aceh massacre suspect, within a
\nweek.<\/p>\n
The provincial military spokesman Lt. Col. Fatwa Suratnoko
\ntold reporters here on Thursday that the order was officially
\ngiven to the chief of West Java Military Police Col. Wasisto
\nearlier in the day.<\/p>\n
Fatwa said the search had already begun on Tuesday following a
\nverbal order from Slamet.<\/p>\n
According to Fatwa, photographs of Sudjono would be
\ndistributed to all West Java military offices and media in the
\nnext two days in a bid to intensify the manhunt.<\/p>\n
Sudjono has been declared a key suspect in the mass killings
\nin Tengku Bantaqiah, an Islamic boarding school teacher, his
\nwife, students and dozens of farmers in the Beutong area, some
\n100 kilometers south of the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe, in
\nJuly last year.<\/p>\n
Sudjono, the intelligence chief of the Lhokseumawe-based
\nLilawangsa Military Command, was one of 20 military personnel and
\ncivilians who were scheduled to stand trial later this month for
\ncrimes against humanity.<\/p>\n
Military officials have said that Sudjono disappeared after
\nobtaining permission to go on a 30-day leave to Cirebon in West
\nJava, his hometown.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman Air Rear
\nMarshal Graito Usodo declared the suspect a deserter on Jan. 18.<\/p>\n
Fatwa said on Thursday that Wednesday afternoon's search for
\nSudjono was fruitless. \"We did not find him in his Cimahi or
\nPurwakarta houses,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Sudjono has not seen his family since the beginning of his
\nleave. The military has no idea when Sudjono was last seen,\" said
\nFatwa.<\/p>\n
Fatwa added that the suspect said he wanted to go to
\nPurwakarta for a health treatment on his first day of leave,
\nhowever, there is no official confirmation whether he was in
\nPurwakarta.<\/p>\n
\"His family has given up. But reports said he is most likely
\nstill in West Java,\" Fatwa said.<\/p>\n
The town of Cirebon is now the target, following information
\nfrom the Army Headquarters that the suspect is there. Cirebon is
\nsome 130 kilometers northeast of here.<\/p>\n
In a hearing with the House of Representatives in Jakarta,
\nIndonesian Military (TNI) Chief Adm. Widodo A.S. regretted
\nSudjono's unknown whereabouts, saying his absence hampered the
\ninvestigation into the human rights violations in Aceh.<\/p>\n
Widodo said Sudjono was categorized as violating military
\ndiscipline and the military criminal code.<\/p>\n
Violence continues<\/p>\n
In a massive outbreak of violence in a riot-torn province of
\nAceh, 16 people, including a police officer, were killed and
\neight injured in several fresh clashes between rebels and
\nsecurity personnel, officials and witnesses said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Four suspected Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels were killed in
\na gun battle on Wednesday in Cot Meurebo village in Kuta Makmur
\ndistrict about 27 kilometers south of Lhokseumawe, the capital of
\nNorth Aceh, said local military chief Lt. Col. Suyatno.<\/p>\n
The four were Mukhtar Hasan, 26; Mukthar AS, 20; Lukman Sufi,
\n21 and Saifullah, 25. He added that eight of his soldiers were
\nwounded by a grenade thrown by one of the rebels.<\/p>\n
\"We were about to raid a GAM base there when they intercepted
\nthe action. We confiscated four guns from them,\" Suyatno said.<\/p>\n
However, Ismail Syahputra, a rebel spokesman, claimed that the
\nvictims were peasants working on a plantation and that a number
\nof soldiers were killed in the clash.<\/p>\n
Also in North Aceh, two civilians named Syafei, 45, and
\nWahidin, 40, were found dead Wednesday after being abducted by
\nunidentified gunmen, police chief Lt. Col. Syafei Aksal said.<\/p>\n
Syafei also said that Sgt. Maj. Alimuddin, a police officer
\nwounded in a grenade attack last month, died in hospital on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
In neighboring Pidie regency, villagers found three
\nunidentified burned bodies, said local police chief Lt. Col.
\nEndang Emiqail Bagus. The first two remains were unidentified,
\nwhile another dead body was believed to be the body of M. Jafar,
\na civilian.<\/p>\n
Alleged rebels Suryadi, 20 and Gambit Husin, 28 were shot dead
\nin a raid at Cot Jaja village in Pidie on Wednesday, said local
\nmilitary chief Lt. Col. Iskandar M.S.<\/p>\n
In South Aceh, villagers found two more unidentified bodies
\nwith major head injuries, while two other bodies were found in
\nEast Aceh and Bireun.<\/p>\n
Wednesday's violence brought the death toll to at least 43
\nthis week. In January at least 113 people were killed; most of
\nthem were civilians.<\/p>\n
The rebels are fighting for an independent state in Aceh. More
\nthan 1,000 people have died in the conflict in the past decade.<\/p>\n
Separately, Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah M. Saad
\nheld a closed meeting on Thursday with Aceh Governor Syamsuddin
\nMahmud which included the provincial police and military and
\nlegislative chiefs in Banda Aceh to discuss a joint tribunal
\nbetween civilian and martial courts for the alleged human rights
\nviolations in Aceh.<\/p>\n
Hasballah is scheduled to meet with academicians and students
\nat the Darussalam campus, which host Syah Kuala University and
\nIAIN Islamic Institute later in the day. (25\/50\/51\/edt\/emf\/sur)<\/p>",
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