ABRI postpones withdrawal of troops from troubled Aceh

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI), which recently pulled out 900 troops from Aceh, is canceling further withdrawals and even reportedly sending 200 new troops to restore order in the province following two days of unrest.

Minister of Defense and Security/ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto announced the decision on Wednesday. He said: "It is the responsibility of ABRI to maintain security... therefore the troop withdrawal will be suspended temporarily until the situation is safe enough (for it to continue)."

"To safeguard projects of vital importance, the number of troops (already present) will be reinforced," Wiranto said without elaborating.

Antara reported ABRI had deployed about 200 infantrymen from the capital Banda Aceh and 200 others from the North Sumatra capital of Medan to the site of the unrest, Lhokseumawe.

There was no official figure on Wednesday about the number of troops deployed in Aceh, which witnessed atrocities during the nine years of military operations to quell armed separatist activists, but estimates range from 5,000 to 12,000, according to a rights group.

Unrest broke out in the North Aceh town of Lhokseumawe shortly after the second batch of combat troops withdrew from the province on Monday. The first group, consisting of 250 troops, pulled out on Aug. 20 as part of Wiranto's promise to scale down the military presence in the province where soldiers have been accused of massive human rights abuses.

The rioting and looting went on until Tuesday, causing damage to more than 200 buildings and reportedly claiming one life and injuring dozens when the troops tried to contain the unrest. Some witnesses claimed they heard shots fired repeatedly for a duration of half an hour on Tuesday.

There was no fresh rioting on Wednesday, but tension was high and news services reported a heavy military presence with dozens of troops posted on street corners.

Lhokseumawe, about 200 kilometers east of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, lies near the huge Arun oil and gas field.

The respected National Commission on Human Rights confirmed here on Wednesday that military units had perpetrated gross violations of human rights during operations in Aceh.

"The gross violations were summary killings, torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, enforced disappearances, destruction of property and rapes and sexual assaults," according to the rights commission's deputy chairman, Marzuki Darusman. He added that the abuses included violations that were not even justifiable in war situations.

Marzuki told a packed media conference that the rights violations occurred in Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh, which fall under the supervision of the Lilawangsa District Command.

The rights commission said last week that at least 781 people were killed and thousands others suffered, including at least 102 women who were raped, during the military operations in the westernmost province.

Marzuki said on Wednesday, however, that a thorough investigation was still needed to determine the final number of victims of the atrocities.

He suggested that the number reported may be lower than the reality as not all victims had come forward and reported their suffering due to "an overwhelming fear induced by the military operations."

Four rights commission members visited the province two weeks ago and dug up mass graves of alleged victims of the atrocities.

The team found a number of skeletons and talked to hundreds of witnesses, local authorities and non-governmental organizations.

The rights body recommended to President B.J. Habibie's administration that all officials behind the military operations in Aceh and the alleged human rights violators be held responsible and brought to court.

It also recommended that the government compensate the relatives of the killed victims.

The rights body also said that it was high time that the Armed Forces review its education curriculum.

"The accepted norm that ABRI members can do anything they want under the pretext of stability must be abolished," added Marzuki. (byg/prb)