Aid workers told to get escorts

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.