GAM suggests independent team to probe latest killing in Aceh
GAM suggests independent team to probe latest killing in Aceh
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Responding to accusations made by the
Indonesian Military (TNI) that they were behind Thursday's
killing of 30 civilians in East Aceh, Aceh separatists GAM
suggested on Friday that an independent team be set up to probe
the massacre and take the case to an international tribunal.
Amri Abdul Wahab, commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in
northern Aceh, said that the independent team must be given
freedom to investigate the killings.
As many as 30 people, not 31 as reported by most of the media,
were shot dead on Thursday by unknown gunmen at PT Bumi Flora, an
oil palm plantation company in Idi Rayeuk district, some 80
kilometers south of the capital of East Aceh, Langsa.
Munawir, a doctor at Idi Rayeuk public health center confirmed
on Friday that 30 people, including a five-year-old and a
housewife, died from gunshot wounds.
Thursday's massacre was believed to be the worst in Aceh since
July 1999, when soldiers killed GAM supporter-turned-Muslim
teacher Tengku Bantaqiyah and 56 of his students at an Islamic
boarding school in West Aceh.
GAM accused TNI of conducting the Thursday's massacre, while
TNI said it was GAM members who conducted the brutal action.
"Let the fact-finding team decide who's to blame in the
massacre. If GAM is found guilty, we are ready to take
responsibility for that at the International Tribunal and if TNI
or the police are found guilty, they must also take
responsibility," Abdul Wahab told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
"This (the shooting) is a gift for Indonesia, as promised by
Megawati for the country's anniversary," he said, referring to
President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
He earlier claimed that the unidentified gunmen at the
aforementioned incident were TNI soldiers, frustrated following
GAM's attack on a local TNI post the day before.
"They (the gunmen) arrived at the oil palm plantation and
ordered people to line up and then shot them," Abdul Wahab said.
Police's version
Meanwhile, police spokesman for the Aceh Law and Order
Operation Adj. Sr. Comr. Sad Harunantyo said, in a telephone
interview with the Post from Banda Aceh on Friday, that the
separatist group, led by Ishak Daud of GAM, conducted the
killing.
"The rebels threatened the plantation employees in the hilly
area not to report the incident, not even to the Indonesian Red
Cross, so many eventually died due to loss of blood," Harunantyo
explained.
Police quoted witnesses as saying that the incident took place
between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, when the plantation
workers were going to collect their wages. The residents
eventually notified the police later at 3 p.m.
"They were gathering to collect their pay when the attackers
sprayed bullets at them," Harunantyo said, alleging that the
rebels tried to rob the workers.
Ten of the people killed on Thursday morning died instantly at
the scene. Seven others received severe gunshot wounds in the
massacre and are being treated at Langsa General Hospital in East
Aceh, the officer said.
Both GAM and the Indonesian government have made significant
peace efforts through a series of talks. Several talks sponsored
by the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Center have been held in Geneva
and the latest talks took place at Kuala Tripa Hotel in Banda
Aceh.
The latest talks were fruitless and after just three days of
talks, six negotiators from GAM were detained by police on
suspicion of subversion. (50/edt/sur)