Activists to report plight of Acehnese to UN convention

Activists to report plight of Acehnese to UN convention

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian human rights activists pledged on
Thursday to bring the plight of the Acehnese to a United Nations
convention in Geneva this month, in an attempt to attract
international intervention and an eventual military pullout from
the troubled province.

Catholic priest Sandyawan Sumardi said representatives from
the Solidarity Forum for Aceh (Forsola) would attend the meeting
of the UN Human Rights Subcommission from Aug. 2 through Aug. 28.

Forsola will be represented by rights activist Ifdal Karim and
three victims of the decade-long military operations in Aceh.

Forsola is a solidarity forum grouping 27 non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), including Kalyanamitra women's group, the
Jakarta Social Institute (ISJ), the Indonesian Environmental
Forum (Walhi), the Indonesian Legal and Human Rights Association
(PBHI), the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development
(INFID), Pijar and ELSAM.

Sandyawan, an ISJ spokesman, said the activists would campaign
for the establishment of "neutral zones" to facilitate the
distribution of food and medical relief under the supervision of
international observers.

More than 98,000 Acehnese have been displaced in a recent
spate of armed conflicts between the military and separatist
rebels grouped in the Free Aceh Movement. They are sheltering in
squalid conditions in 26 locations, sometimes sleeping under
trees and in makeshift tents.

Human rights violations in Aceh continue to be reported,
despite the termination last year of the special military
operation in the province.

Indonesian Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi launched on Wednesday
a new six-month long offensive to crush the movement, involving
more than 6,000 Aceh Police officers and auxiliaries.

Earlier, Jakarta had deployed some 3,000 riot police and 2,000
troops to the province as reinforcements for the operation.

Sandyawan said imposition of a military operation mission was
a method to politically isolate the region from national agendas.

Sandyawan was speaking on the sidelines of a two-day campaign
for Aceh that includes discussions, a photo exhibition, and art
happenings to commemorate the first year of the ending of the
military operation in Aceh. A fund-raising event is being held on
Friday evening at the Gedung Kesenian Jakarta arts center.

In the Thursday discussion, Munir, the coordinator for the
Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras),
revealed that some 230,000 people had fled their homes. The
figures are over double that of the official estimate of 98,618
people who have become refugees.

Munir said the total number of refugees was equivalent to half
of the population in three regencies in Aceh.

Munir warned President B.J. Habibie, Roesmanhadi and
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Feisal
Tanjung that arrogance, as shown by the shoot-on-sight order
issued by Roesmanhadi on Wednesday, would not help resolve the
Aceh problem.

Palestinian Ambassador Ribhi Y. Awad, who attended the
discussion, expressed concerns over continued bloodshed in Aceh.
He asked the participants to stand and pray for those who had
died in the violence.

Awad reminded discussion participants that Islam condemned the
killing of Muslims by Muslims. But he also said the separatism
campaign would cause the nation to disintegrate.

Ghazali Abbas, an Aceh community leader, said that Indonesian
Military chief Gen. Wiranto violated a promise made by Habibie to
the Acehnese that the military would stop committing violence and
atrocities in the region.

Nezar Patria, another Kontras activist, said in the discussion
Aceh's problems were now on the national political agenda.

He said the two-day peaceful strike in Aceh beginning on
Wednesday was a success, but predicted that more troops would be
deployed in the province to pursue even the smallest community
groups and that refugee numbers would increase.

In a related issue, Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid
proposed on Thursday wide-ranging autonomy for Aceh as a solution
to the demands made by Acehnese, but flatly rejected a
referendum.

During a visit to the West Java town of Sumedang, he said the
wide-ranging autonomy and special privileges package would have
to be discussed further, but that it must stay in line with the
1945 Constitution. (06/43)