Aid workers told to get escorts

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The police urged foreign aid workers in Aceh to secure a police escort when traveling in areas where separatist rebels are known to operate.

"It is important that foreigners ask for a security escort," National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar explained.

"Maybe many foreigners feel they are safe, but GAM (rebels) could launch an attack any place, any time," he said referring to the local acronym of the Free Aceh Movement rebel group, which has been fighting for the independence of the oil-rich province for the past three decades.

Da'i made the call after a Hong Kong woman working for the Red Cross in Aceh was shot and wounded while traveling to an aid distribution point.

Da'i claimed that areas on the outskirts of the provincial capital Banda Aceh, Pidie and East Aceh were prone to attacks by GAM.

The Hong Kong aid worker, Eva Yeung, was hit by a bullet while traveling to Lamno, 55 kilometers south of Banda Aceh, in a marked International Committee for the Red Cross vehicle on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, AFP reported on Friday that Yeung, 28, was in a stable condition in intensive care at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore, where she had been evacuated for medical treatment, surgeon Tan Chong Tien said.

Indonesian security authorities immediately blamed separatist rebels for the shooting, however, GAM military commander Muzakkir Manaf denied that his men were involved, and instead suggested the military was to blame.