Banda Aceh quiet after mass gathering

Banda Aceh quiet after mass gathering

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Capital Banda Aceh was quiet on Sunday
following the peaceful Mass Gathering for Peace (SIRA RAKAN)
which ended the previous day.

Stores in several traditional markets here resumed business on
Sunday after two days of closure due to the mass gathering.

However, prices of basic commodities remained high as supplies
were scarce because there had been no single public
transportation vehicle in operation over the past two days.

As of Sunday, public buses and minivans serving routes to and
from Banda Aceh had yet to become fully operational, forcing
residents to continue using sea or air transportation to reach
certain places.

Residents in Pidie regency said the police continued with
their sweeping operations to check documents on passing vehicles,
including ambulances. They also said that barbed wire barricades
were still seen on the streets in front of police and military
offices.

The police had intensified their operation since Wednesday to
block access to the city, aimed at preventing residents across
the province from attending the mass gathering.

Hospitals, activists and police gave different figures on the
number of fatalities during the two-day mass gathering. The
police said 14 people had been killed in separate incidents,
while the gathering's organizer, the Information Center for Aceh
Referendum (SIRA), claimed that 32 people had died.

The Jakarta Post correspondent citing hospital records said
that the death toll reached 27 following the discovery of six
bodies on Saturday, bearing severe wounds in Idi Rayeuk district,
East Aceh regency.

East Aceh District Military Commander Lt. Col. Deni K. Irawan
said on Sunday that two of the six bodies were military officers
clad in civilian clothes, who had been missing since Thursday,
while on their way from Langsa in East Aceh to Lhokseumawe in
North Aceh.

Meanwhile on Saturday evening, six passengers were injured
when the police fired shots at two cars during an operation on
Jl. Teuku Nyak Makam in Banda Aceh.

"There were dozens of officers, all armed with long rifles. I
was ordered to stop the car but then another officer fired shots
at our car. My wife was shot in the stomach, waist and thigh,"
Iswar Yusuf told reporters at the Zainoel Abidin General Hospital
in Banda Aceh.

The officers' violent actions have compelled at least 15 non-
governmental organizations and students organizations to issue a
joint statement to sue Aceh Police chief Brig. Gen. Chaerul
Rasyidi and all personnel of the Police Special Operation Cinta
Meunasah as suspects over human rights violations.

"We demand that an independent commission be set up to audit
humanitarian violations by the Indonesian security personnel
against Acehnese who wanted to participate in the mass gathering
for peace in Banda Aceh," executive director of the Coalition of
Non-Governmental Organizations on Human Rights Maimul Fidar said
on Sunday.

The coalition also urged the Geneva-based Joint Forum
Humanitarian Pause for Aceh to suspend political dialog between
representatives of the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM), slated for mid November, until the results of the
investigation by the independent commission are made public.

Meanwhile, Head of GAM representatives at the Joint Committee
on Security Modality (KBMK), Amni bin Ahmad Marzuki, said no GAM
representatives would attend the political dialog in Geneva,
slated for Nov. 16 and Nov. 17 on the grounds that the Indonesian
security forces continued killing the Acehnese.

Amni also urged that the Indonesian government should withdraw
military/police reinforcement troops from the province as they
were behind the prolonged violence.

Recently, a GAM representative of the Monitoring Team on
Humanitarian Action Ganni Nurdin told The Jakarta Post that the
Indonesian government representatives had left KBMK office at
Hotel Kuala Tripa in Banda Aceh two weeks ago.

He said he deplored the departure of the representatives as
there were now only representatives of GAM and the Henry Dunnant
Center who are monitoring the situation in the province. (50/lup)