Acehnese people bear the brunt of forced evacuation

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Lhokseumawe, Aceh

The martial law administration in Aceh probably had not anticipated that people in the province would suffer when troops drove them into refugee camps in a bid to split them from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels.

Eighty-five families who are now living in refugee camps in Paya Bakong and Matang Kuli districts in North Aceh are complaining of an uncertain future after they were forced to leave their villages over two months ago.

The villagers, whose homes are located about one hour south of Lhokseumawe, the capital town of North Aceh, said they were asked to abandon their homes on May 28 by the 408th Rajawali combined battalion.

"I should be a junior high school student by now, but because we were ordered not to go to school I could not finish my final exams," Syaifullah, who ranked first in state-run elementary school SD Krueng Pase Blok B, said on Wednesday.

Unlike other camps, no schooling is provided for the children.

"We even cannot read any books because the soldiers have burned them," Syaifullah, who is staying in Meunasah Lueng hamlet along with his parents, added.

A resident of Pante Kirou hamlet, Rohamah, said that she and her neighbors were told they would have to leave their village for only three days and therefore should not carry all their belongings.

"They (the military) said they would take care of our houses and should we return without their knowledge then our security would no longer be their responsibility.

"But after one-and-half months, we went back to see how things were going because there was no word from the soldiers who all had left our village. Several houses had been burned down, others were in a mess and our precious belongings had all gone. Only the heads and the legs of cows were left," she said.

The residents decided to stay to repair their houses. But after two days, the sounds of planes forced them to flee again.

Such a situation has sparked fear among the residents whenever they pick pinang (areca nuts) and cocoa from their plantations.

Nur Hasanah, a young mother, said that eight days after delivering her second baby girl -- who is now two months old -- her husband Bachtiar, 25, went to the river running through their hamlet to catch fish along with three other residents.

"The other three managed to escape from soldiers who stopped them and accused them of being GAM members. I have not heard any news of my husband since," she said.

People's desire to return home has motivated some refugees to follow a convoy of journalists entering their hamlet.

"Please help us to return to our old life," one of them said.

The Lhokseumawe-based military operation command spokesman, Lt. Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki, said the military was aware of residents who were taking refuge in places other than the shelters provided by the martial law administration.

"To clear a certain area from rebels, the residents are moved to the nearest shelters. If security is restored then they could return home. We would not make the residents suffer any further from this operation, so I will seek clarification about this information," he said on Wednesday.

"What I know is, residents who are afraid of the military operation are involved in the rebel movement."

But the residents of Blang Rheum village in Jeumpa district, Bireuen, told a different story. Fifteen young men in the village had fled home as the military tanks entered the area at dawn on June 13.

"I thought doomsday had come," 61-year-old Khatijah recalled. That morning the young men left their families for the hills with only the clothes they were wearing.

Rohana, 28, was heavily pregnant when her husband Sulaeman left. Their unnamed baby girl is now two-months old.

"My husband is not a GAM member. I know that. He fears both GAM members and the military. The sound of gunfire far from here disturbed him. He has a weak heart. That morning he said he had to go because he could not bear the conflict. He cannot return home as soldiers have closed the area," she said in tears.