Aceh refugees forced to leave UNRC office

The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

At least 153 refugees from Central and South Aceh were forced to leave the United Nations Resource Center (UNRC) compound in Banda Aceh, four days after they fled their homes due to increasing violence and security risks.

Ahmad, a refugee from Takengon, Central Aceh, told journalists on Thursday that they left the UN compound after Aceh legislative members refused to guarantee their safety.

"They told us that the Indonesian military would shoot us to death if we did not evacuate," Ahmad said.

Before the forced evacuation, Aceh legislative members, represented by Farid Fazri of the military faction, and deputy chief of the social affairs ministry office Nasir Ali, tried to persuade the refugees to leave voluntarily, but failed.

The refugees appealed to the legislators not to force them to leave the compound, which was already surrounded by military personnel.

"But the provincial legislators told us that they would not be held responsible for our lives if the military started shooting us," Ahmad said.

Nasir, however, denied that they had forced the refugees to leave the center.

"We urged them to return to their homes. We also promised to give them money and rice for one month," he said.

Risma, an activist with the People's Crisis Center, which has been working with refugees in Aceh, said that the refugees were not given food while staying at the UN compound.

"It seems they were not given food so that they would go home immediately," Risma said.

Earlier, some 170 refugees had also fled to the UN facility, but they recently returned home.