Sat, 23 Jun 2001

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)