Aceh at standstill as mass strike starts

JAKARTA (JP): Parts of Aceh came to a halt on Wednesday as residents began a two-day strike protesting military violence in the province, while a shoot-on-sight order against armed civilians was issued by the police.

Witnesses said streets in the province's main towns were deserted, with shops, public transportation and businesses closed.

"The shops have all been closed since this morning and the streets are also very quiet," Ahmad Daniel, a hotel employee in the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe, told The Jakarta Post.

Human rights activists and students called for the general strike to demand an end to violence in Aceh and the withdrawal of troops from the province.

"It seems that many people are following the students' call for the strike," Armin Gruber, a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said from Lhokseumawe.

An employee at the Lhokseumawe office of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Ali Basya, told the Post that few of his colleagues came to work on Wednesday. He also said public transportation was not operating and the market was quiet.

Thousands of people stocked up on supplies on Monday.

A few children were seen being taken to school by their parents on motorcycles, but by 11 a.m. they had gone home because many teachers were absent, Ali said.

A security official at Lhokseumawe General Hospital said the hospital was quiet although doctors and nurses were at work, being excluded from the strike call.

In Sigli, the capital of Pidie regency, some 125 kilometers east of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, students volunteers assisting some 60,000 refugees there said they would transport aid to the refugees only after the strike ended.

One of the students, Mutia, said it would only be possible to transport aid if there was a private vehicle to borrow or rent.

In Banda Aceh, residents said shops were closed and public transportation vehicles were absent from the streets.

Antara news agency reported that the city's main markets of Kampung Baru and Peunayung were closed and dozens of coffee houses in the city, which are popular hangouts for residents, were also closed.

Junior and high school students said they were given a holiday on Wednesday and Thursday from their schools.

A car from the local military command was seen cruising the streets urging the people to continue with their daily activities.

Shoot on sight

The strike came as National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi said in Jakarta police had launched a new offensive to crush a resurgence of separatist activity in Aceh. He also issued a shoot-on-sight order against civilians carrying arms.

"I order police to shoot those whose identities aren't clear and who are armed," Roesmanhadi said.

"If people are dressed in plainclothes and are armed ... this concerns the security of officers ... and also bothers the public," he said, adding the orders were not to shoot to kill, but to disable.

Roesmanhadi said the new offensive would be a six-month-long operation ending in January 2000, and would involve 6,186 Aceh Police officers and auxiliaries.

Jakarta has deployed some 3,100 riot police and 2,000 troops to the province as reinforcements for the operation, he said.

Roesmanhadi said the police were still in command of security operations in the oil-rich province, and riot troops were present only to assist the understaffed local police force.

Roesmanhadi also said clashes between the military and members of the Free Aceh Movement had resulted in the death of at least 211 people, including 44 security personnel, since May.

More than 150 buildings, including dozens of schools and government offices, have also been burned, he said.

Most of the violence has taken place in the regencies of Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh, where most of the violence occurred during the decade-long military operation which was halted last year.

He said security personnel would also secure the main traffic route between Banda Aceh and the North Sumatran capital of Medan.

The police have recorded 98,618 Acehnese who have sought refuge in 26 shelters since the recent outbreak of violence, Roesmanhadi said.

Earlier in the day, nine protesters grouped in the United People of Aceh occupied the Dutch Embassy on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta demanding Aceh's independence from Indonesia.

They demanded the Dutch government lobby the United Nations on their behalf.

Separately Antara reported that the Golkar Party charged the government of not being serious to settle problems in Aceh.

"I think it is no exaggeration to say that the government is not serious about finding a solution to the Aceh problem or that the government considers it as insignificant," chairman Akbar Tandjung said.

Injustices had led to protests, and the problem was now more complex with armed groups and the tens of thousands of refugees, Akbar said. (byg/anr/emf)