Three more mass graves found in Aceh<\/p>\n
Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh<\/p>\n
With the signing on Dec. 9, 2002 of the cessation of hostilities
\nagreement between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the
\nAcehnese people began to feel emboldened enough to speak about
\nthe crimes committed by GAM in the past, starting with the three
\nmass graves found in Kemukiman Manggamat, South Aceh.<\/p>\n
A group of residents from the village met on Monday with Maj.
\nGen. Djali M. Jusuf, chief of the Iskandarmuda Military Command
\noverseeing Aceh, to report their finding the graves two months
\nago, and to call for authorities to follow up with a thorough
\ninvestigation.<\/p>\n
The group said the three mass graves were found accidentally
\nby locals on Jan. 30, and contained the skeletons of 16 men from
\nthe villages of Jambo Papan and Sarah Baru, some 665 kilometers
\nsoutheast of Banda Aceh.<\/p>\n
Effendi, head of Sarah Baru Village, said villagers knew the
\n16 skeletons were those of men from the clothes they were
\nwearing.<\/p>\n
\"The mass grave in Jambo Papan contained four skeletons, while
\nthe other two in Sawah Baru contained 12 skeletons,\" he said,
\nadding that the skeletons were reburied in an Islamic burial
\nceremony.<\/p>\n
Residents of Kemukiman Manggamat believed that the mass graves
\nwas evidence of GAM's bloody crackdown against locals on June 5,
\n2001.<\/p>\n
Effendi said that on that day, a group of GAM rebels raided
\nthe village for those who refused to support the separatist
\nmovement, and dozens of locals were arrested because they had no
\nmoney to give to GAM.<\/p>\n
\"The villagers were intimidated and forced to pay money to
\nGAM. Those who were unable to pay money were tortured to death
\nand their bodies buried,\" said Effendi.<\/p>\n
Along with Effendi, Amran, secretary of the village, said
\nvillagers believed there were many more mass graves in the
\ndistricts because hundreds of villagers had been arrested and
\nabducted during the raids.<\/p>\n
Djali called on human rights institutions and the Henry Dunant
\nCentre (HDC) facilitating the peace process to conduct a thorough
\ninvestigation on the mass graves and the villagers' accounts.<\/p>\n
\"Human rights institutions and the HDC should investigate the
\nmass graves and pressure GAM in this,\" he said, adding that he
\nhad ordered an Army Strategic Reserve Command group (Kostrad) to
\naccompany people in the district to look for other mass graves.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Oil and Gas Coordinating Body (BP Migas)
\ncomplained about the widespread extortion of oil and gas
\ncompanies in the province by GAM rebels after the peace accord
\nhad been signed. A number of villages have also reported that GAM
\nextorted money from villages which were strongholds of the
\nseparatist movement.<\/p>\n
GAM has reportedly forced villages to pay Rp 10 million
\n(USS$1,110) and has coerced contractor companies to set aside 10
\npercent of the contract value of their projects as contributions
\ntoward GAM.<\/p>\n
The National Commission of Human Rights has also found dozens
\nof mass graves in Lhokseumawe containing thousands of bodies
\nbelonging to those who were killed during the military operation
\nconducted between 1989 and 1999 in the province under former
\npresident Soeharto's repressive regime.<\/p>\n
The military has made an apology to the people, especially to
\nthe Acehnese, for the mass killings during the operation to quell
\nthe separatist movement.<\/p>\n
None of the security personnel who were involved in the
\natrocity have been brought to trial so far.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/three-more-mass-graves-found-in-aceh-1447893297",
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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