Central Aceh isolated after Takengon violence
Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Jakarta
Central Aceh regency remains isolated, with the main highway connecting the regency with other regencies blockaded by residents following two recent violent incidents in the regency this month.
Most people in rural areas of the regency now live in fear and stay indoors because of the uncertain conditions and the prices of daily goods are rising after the transportation between Bireuen and Takengon was blockaded by local residents who are demanding justice in regard to the two incidents.
S. Sembiring whose car was set aflame and ruined during a March 15 road block incident by the militia group, said people had stopped their daily activities because of the presence of the conflicting groups of armed civilians in remote areas of the regency.
"Farmers do not go to their farmland and traders have closed their shops in small towns and villages in the regencies because they fear for their lives if attacked by any of the thugs," he said.
At least four people have killed, several others injured and eleven cars and buses were burned down by rebels in Burlintang, a small town 15 kilometer south of Takengon.
The incident followed the attack by the suspected pro Jakarta militia group on the monitoring team's Joint Security Committee (JSC) office in Takengon. The mob said they were angry about the JSC's perceived failure to stop alleged extortion by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the regency. Two JSC members were injured and three cars belonging to the team were torched.
Sembiring said the situation in Takengon was still relatively normal. But he said fuel prices had risen to between Rp 3,500 (some 39 U.S. cents) and Rp 5,000 from the current prices of Rp 1,800 to Rp 2,200.
A reliable source said that hundreds of people in Pondok Baru, some 33 kilometers east of Takengon, staged a demonstration, demanding local security authorities to enhance security both in their own villages and at traditional markets.
The demonstrators had Laskar Jihad headbands, the supposedly disbanded Java-based Muslim paramilitary gang, and claimed that GAM was being behind the two incidents.
Ela, the owner of a coffee shop in Ronga-Ronga, 40 kilometers southeast of Takengon, said she had closed her shop because of the mounting situation in the village.
She said thousands of tons of fruits and vegetables have been rotting in Ronga-ronga because of the paralyzed highway.
Subsequently prices of fruit and vegetable in Banda Aceh have been rising amid the absence of supply from mountainous areas in Central Aceh. Prices of tomatoes have risen by over 70 percent from Rp 4.500 per kilogram.
Brig. Gen. Suharto, chief of the operation to restore security in Banda Aceh, said he had instructed the police and military in Bireuen and Central Aceh to boost security along the Bireuen- Takengon highway and to ensure the supply of basic commodities to the regency.
"I will go to Takengon immediately to check the social condition in the regency and urban areas in the regency," he said.