319 civilians killed in Aceh

319 civilians killed in Aceh

Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh

Three months into the military offensive to quell the armed
rebellion in resource-rich Aceh, at least 319 civilians have been
killed and 117 others injured, according a senior police officer.

Aceh Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Sayed Hoesainy said here on
Friday that most of the fatalities had occurred in North Aceh
with 91 victims, followed by East Aceh and South Aceh with 67 and
36 dead respectively.

The three areas are strongholds of the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM), which had 5,000 armed personnel before the military
offensive began on May 19.

Sayed went on to say that due to a lack of information, the
police did not know which parties should be held responsible for
the deaths.

He said most of the civilian victims' bodies had been
recovered by locals with the help of Red Cross volunteers.

Both GAM and TNI members have traded accusations for the
killing of civilians, and locals remain tight-lipped concerning
the identify of the killers for fear of reprisal.

The military has claimed to have killed more than 800 rebels
during the offensive.

Sayed declined to provide details when asked whether there
were any rebels among the civilian victims. "Whether they (the
dead victims) had identity cards or not, certainly they were
members of the community," he said.

Sayed said 15 police officers had also been killed and 61
others had been injured in the operation to enforce the law in
the province.

Separately, Husni, a senior official at the Aceh provincial
administration, said 196 district heads and staff had been killed
and 21 others injured.

The Pidie regency administration has lost 41 staff members and
the East Aceh regency 32. All were killed by unidentified gunmen.

Husni said the Aceh martial law administrator had instructed
regents to pay compensation to the victims' families.

In a separate development, a group of U.S. lawmakers protested
on Thursday Malaysia's deportation of 12 Acehnese seeking
political asylum there.

In a letter to Malaysian Ambassador to Washington Ghazzali
Sheikh-Abdul-Khalid, the lawmakers said the return of more asylum
seekers to Aceh was "unacceptable".

The letter raised concerns that 12 refugees repatriated last
month had returned to a province beset by conflict as the
Indonesian Military battled rebels, plus allegations of human
rights abuse.

"We urge that your government's authorities abide by
international law and not forcibly return any additional Acehnese
to Aceh," said the letter, as quoted by AFP.

The letter was signed by eight members of the U.S. Congress
including Patrick Kennedy, Christopher Smith, Barney Frank and
Dennis Kucinich.