Aceh calm but tense as transport strike continues

Aceh calm but tense as transport strike continues

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): The province was calm but tense on
Saturday following several days of transportation strike,
killings and arson.

No major clashes were reported. The vital eastern highway
connecting Banda Aceh and Medan remained closed but public vans
began plying their regular routes in Banda Aceh. However, truck
drivers remained on strike in protest of a lack of security.

Drivers of public buses in Lhokseumawe, where major
multinational companies are located, was still on strike.

A police officer in the eastern town of Langsa, who asked for
anonymity, said bus and truck owners were still worried about
security along the highway. At least one bus and two mikrolet
(minivan) have been burned between Wednesday and Friday alone.

Schools remained closed on Saturday although it was not a
school holiday. On Wednesday, almost 60 schools across the
province were set on fire.

In Blang Pidie, a coastal town in the southeast, two bodies
were found early Saturday morning. Police said the two men might
have been murdered after they were abducted the night before. The
men were allegedly involved in blocking roads in their
neighborhood.

Like in many other big towns, streets in Blang Pidie were
still barricaded with fallen trees. Several towns in the west of
the province were practically isolated. In Blang Pidie, gas
stations ran out of supply and the price of gasoline at street
retailers here shot to Rp 5,000 (US55 cents) per liter, while the
official price is only Rp 1,450.

Kuala Simpang, a southern town near the border with North
Sumatra where a soldier and a Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel were
killed on Friday, was calm.

The two members of the South Aceh Legislative Council, Ramli
H. Ubit and Rusli S., who were abducted by a group of
unidentified men in Kuala Bate subdistrict on Friday, were
released on Saturday.

"They are safe and well," said a relative of Ubit who declined
to be named. "They were reunited with their families this
morning."

The military accused GAM rebels of abducting the legislators.
Sr. Comr. Sudarsono, spokesman for Aceh Police, said Ramli and
Rusli were abducted on their way from their home in Kota Bahagia
to participate in the Independence Day celebration in Blang
Pidie, some 20 kilometers from Kota Bahagia.

The Independence Day anniversary here was marred by bomb
blasts from Thursday night to Friday across the restive province.
Four banks in Banda Aceh were destroyed and two people were
killed when the bombs they wanted to plant exploded prematurely.

In Jakarta, the Human Rights Watch said on Saturday that human
rights abuses in Aceh were mounting.

The human rights watchdog called in a statement on Saturday
for the Indonesian government and the rebels in Aceh not harm
civilians, saying both sides had been responsible for human
rights violations.

The Human Rights Watch also urged the government to stop the
persecution of nonviolent supporters of political change in Aceh
and to allow local human rights organizations to investigate
human rights abuses.

"There is no question that both sides have been responsible
for unlawful killings as well as other abuses," said Sydney
Jones, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. "But the Indonesian
government has a particular responsibility to ensure that those
who are supposed to uphold the law do not themselves become
violators of it. In this it has failed utterly."

The Human Rights Watch also called on the Megawati
administration to set up a human rights court to persecute
serious human rights abuses. (50/pan)