Body count in Aceh rises as JSC urges restraint

Body count in Aceh rises as JSC urges restraint

Nani Farida and Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The body count since a peace accord between the government and
rebels in Aceh has risen again with another gunshot victim found
on Wednesday, as the committee in charge of overseeing the
province's security pleaded with both sides to refrain from
further violence.

A total of 11 have now died since Indonesia and the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) signed a framework peace deal on Dec. 9.

"We call on both sides to restrain themselves better and not
initiate any further repressive or offensives moves," said
Thailand's Maj. Gen. Thanongsuk Tuvinan in a press briefing on
Tuesday.

Thanongsuk heads the foreign team at the Joint Security
Committee (JSC) which will monitor the peace agreement.

The body of a 37-year old male, M. Zuhri, was found near a
bridge at Ketapang village in the Aceh Besar regency early
Wednesday. Villagers said they saw a gunshot wound.

His death followed that of two soldiers in clashes with an
armed group last week. Four other soldiers sustained injuries.

Overall, however, Acehnese in Indonesia's only province where
Islamic law, or sharia, is being applied, had a peaceful
Christmas.

"We have received reports on a number of armed clashes and
acts of violence from both GAM and the Indonesian Government in
Aceh," JSC's Thanongsuk confirmed. "The JSC tripartite committee
will follow up on these reports immediately."

One of the 50 GAM representatives on the committee, Sofyan
Ibrahim Tiba, said the JSC would investigate the clashes in the
areas where they occurred.

The JSC is in charge of implementing the peace deal,
especially to monitor violations and then decide on sanctions for
those who breach the agreement. A 150-member monitoring team will
help JSC to carry out security monitoring. GAM and Indonesia each
have 50 members on the team, while foreign observers under the
HDC make up the rest.

At the moment each side has 24 members on the team present.
Eighteen Thai military officers arrived on Tuesday to join the
others who arrived earlier.

Sofyan further said that GAM had rejected the Philippines
involvement on the JSC, for fear that the Filipinos would lack
objectivity.

"We strongly reject the involvement of the Philippines on the
monitoring team," he said, adding that he already had filed the
complaint during the peace agreement signing in Geneva.

Sofyan cited the Philippines' ongoing war with Muslim rebels
and Jakarta's role in mediating peace with the Moro rebel group
in the southern part of the Philippines.

According to him, a team from Norway or Brunei Darussalam
would likely replace the Filipinos.

In Jakarta, the government said it would form a team to
coordinate the flow of humanitarian aid and social rehabilitation
funds to help rebuild Aceh after the peace deal.

The team will work for seven months starting in January to
coordinate and distribute domestic and foreign aid to Aceh, said
Coordinating Minister for Social Affairs Jusuf Kalla Tuesday.

Last week the United Nations sent a team to Aceh, its first in
over two decades, to assess the province's humanitarian needs.