Acehnese tell of forced evacuations

Acehnese tell of forced evacuations

The Jakarta Post, Pidie/Jakarta

While in most parts of Aceh people seek shelter to get away from
the frequent gunfights between government troops and Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) fighters, hundreds of residents in Pidie have been
displaced following a military search for rebels.

Muara Tiga district chief Asiah said on Wednesday over 360
local people had been hiding in the forest of a nearby hill for
the last four days to escape the military sweeps.

"They are trapped in a GAM area and their fate remains
uncertain so far," Asiah said.

He said most of refugees in the district had been evacuated to
Keuneree Sigli field, which is now home to nearly 1,800 people
from Batee, Ingin Jaya, Tuha Biheue and Papeen subdistricts.

Some of the refugees said they were told by security officers
to abandon their homes to enable the troops to search for rebels.

"I was told to take refuge and I did that," Sapiah told The
Jakarta Post, She did not bring any furniture or appliances, food
or clothes with her as she had to leave the village immediately.

"I didn't even know that I would be here," Sapiah said.

Another in the same situation as Sapiah was Murni, 35, from
Batee village, who admitted to having been forced to leave the
village. Murni said she and her neighbors were taken away in
military trucks.

There are around 40,000 refugees across the province since the
operation to quell rebellion in the natural resource-rich
province began in earnest in late May. Most of the refugees are
in Bireuen regency.

While refugees in Bireuen languish in harsh conditions, others
in the regency of East Aceh sleep on their own mattresses, enjoy
electricity and may watch television, evidence that the
distribution of humanitarian aid during the ongoing war in Aceh
has so far been uneven.

About 2,060 people or 400 families from three districts in
East Aceh set up camp at a unused field in the village of Birem
Raye in Rantau Selamet district on June 9.

The camp boasted four wooden barracks for women and children,
three tents with wooden floors for the males, and three more that
served as schools. Many refugees brought along their mattresses
and the electricity was working.

Fans keep them cool, while lamps, radios and television sets
added to their convenience.

One of the refugees, Hasballah from the village of Alue Kool
in the Rantau Selamet district, said they fled their homes
because groups of armed men had terrorized them at nights. The
groups, he said, also collected the villagers' ID cards, in a
practice authorities have blamed on the rebels. Rebels allegedly
collect the ID cards from the civilians to make it harder for the
authorities to identify them.

Despite claims that the humanitarian operation had proceeded
smoothly along with the military operation, Coordinating Minister
for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on Wednesday that the
government was unprepared for the amount of people seeking
shelter in camps built by the local administration.

Refugees in the Cot Gapo camp in Bireuen complained about
diseases resulting from the lack of sanitary facilities and clean
water.

Kalla said that he government had delivered 20 more water
truck containers to the regency from Medan, and another 15
containers would follow.

The government has allocated Rp 400 billion for its
humanitarian mission in Aceh.

Rights groups have said the military operation had triggered a
humanitarian crisis and a surge in rights abuses against
Acehnese, with little done so far to address those concerns.

Meanwhile, in what will likely test the government's resolve
to strengthen law and order in Aceh, a police Mobile Brigade
(Brimob) officer has been detained on charges of raping a
15-year-old girl.

The student from the Gelanggang Tengah village in Jeumpa
district said she was raped on her way home from school in the
Bireuen regency by the Brimob officer who was guarding a post
along the regency's main road connecting the province's capital
Banda Aceh with the North Sumatra capital of Medan.