ExxonMobil sued over rights abuses in Aceh

ExxonMobil sued over rights abuses in Aceh

WASHINGTON (Agencies): The International Labor Rights Fund
announced here on Thursday that it has sued ExxonMobil
Corporation on charges it paid and directed government security
forces who committed atrocities while protecting an ExxonMobil
facility in Aceh.

The suit was filed on Wednesday in a U.S. District Court on
behalf of 11 residents of Aceh, under the Alien Torture Claims
Act, which allows U.S. jurisdiction over acts committed outside
the United States.

ExxonMobil and state oil and gas company Pertamina exploit
natural gas in the violence-torn province.

"ExxonMobil understood from the day it decided to begin its
project in Aceh that the army units assigned to protect company
wells were notoriously brutal in their treatment of Indonesia's
ethnic minorities," Terry Collingsworth, an attorney for the
Fund, said in a statement as quoted by AFP.

The suit charges that ExxonMobil provided logistical and
material support to Indonesian troops operating in Aceh province
during the 1989-1998 period when former president Soeharto
declared it a "military operational area" in order to combat a
separatist movement waged by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

During that period Mobil Oil, which has since merged with
Exxon, provided logistical and material support to Indonesian
troops, which included building barracks where elite military
units carried out torture and providing excavators used to dig
mass graves, the suit says.

PT ExxonMobil Indonesia, which suspended operations in March
for security reasons, is preparing to resume oil and gas
production in Aceh in early July.

In a statement, ExxonMobil categorically denied the charges.

"ExxonMobil condemns the violation of human rights in any
form. As such, our company rejects and categorically denies any
suggestion or implication that it or its affiliate companies were
in any way involved with alleged human rights abuses by security
forces in Aceh," the statement said.

"We are deeply troubled and highly concerned about the
violence in North Aceh," the statement said, adding that the
company has "always been sensitive to the needs of the local
residents, our employees and the government."

"The unrest in this area seriously impacts the safety and
well-being of our workers, their families and our subcontractors,
as well as those who live in the area."

In Jakarta, Pertamina President Director Baihaki Hakim
considered the human rights lawsuit a misdirected case.

Baihaki said that the responsibility to protect ExxonMobil's
facilities in Indonesia is in the hands of Pertamina.

"The protection for all vital installations is the
responsibility of Pertamina, it is based on our production-
sharing contract agreement with ExxonMobil," Baihaki told
journalists on Friday.

He further asserted that it was common for Pertamina to ask
for security assistance from the government if its vital
installations were in danger or came under threat.

He denied, however, that the company had financed the troops.
Pertamina simply provided some health, housing and transportation
facilities for security officers, Baihaki said.

"The salary of the soldiers are paid by the government, we
only provide them with some facilities like housing and
transportation in return for their service in guarding our
facilities," he added.(dja)