GAM warns of attacks on state facilities
GAM warns of attacks on state facilities
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Acehnese separatist rebels have warned civil servants to stay
away from state facilities, which they plan to attack.
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Tengku Sofyan Dawod said
from the group's foreign base in Norsborg, Sweden, that the prior
warning was issued to avoid futile fatalities in the long-
standing conflict.
"In a state of war, public and economic facilities belonging
to the warring nations are legitimate targets of military attack,
except for health centers, schools and cultural places. It's our
obligation to inform or order a clearance of those facilities,
and any civilian casualty as a result of defiance is beyond our
responsibility," Sofyan said in a statement released on Sunday.
He said the warning was not intended to provoke or intimidate
civilians because it was regulated by international humanitarian
law.
"Civil servants remain simply civilians as long as they do not
involve themselves in the conflict. Civilians deserve protection
during a state of war according to the Geneva convention and
nobody can trespass that right," Sofyan said.
Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed and
hundreds of public facilities, including schools, attacked in the
protracted armed fight between GAM and Indonesian security
troops, which dates back to the mid-1970s.
Security authorities always blame the losses claimed, both
human and material, on the rebels.
Sofyan denied GAM was responsible and said that in many cases
military operations by the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police
had resulted in human rights violations.
"GAM invites TNI and National Police to stop arguments about
civilian casualties. Let the monitoring team from the Henry
Dunant Center (HDR) determine who committed human rights abuse,"
Sofyan said.
HDR has facilitated a series of peace talks between the
Indonesian government and GAM in Geneva, the latest one taking
place on May 9 and May 10.
In the latest violence in Aceh, two men were shot dead by
unidentified gunmen on motorbikes in front of a junior high
school in the Cunda area of Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, on Monday.
Yusuf Passe, an activist with the local human rights group PB-
HAM, told AFP the attack caused panic among hundreds of children.
Students were sent home early following the incident.
One of the victims was believed to be a GAM member. No
confirmation was immediately available from police, but Sofyan
said both victims were civilians.
Earlier on Sunday, local military command spokesman Maj.
Zaenal Muttaqin said TNI personnel killed a rebel and confiscated
an automatic rifle and ammunition during a raid on a suspected
GAM base in Bukit Teumpon, East Aceh, on Saturday.
Muttaqin also said GAM members led by Tengku Anas had abducted
three employees of a plantation company in Darul Makmur, West
Aceh. The whereabouts of the three workers remain unknown.
It is the second case of abduction in less than a week after
GAM rebels kidnapped nine female students last Wednesday.
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Acehnese separatist rebels have warned civil servants to stay
away from state facilities, which they plan to attack.
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman Tengku Sofyan Dawod said
from the group's foreign base in Norsborg, Sweden, that the prior
warning was issued to avoid futile fatalities in the long-
standing conflict.
"In a state of war, public and economic facilities belonging
to the warring nations are legitimate targets of military attack,
except for health centers, schools and cultural places. It's our
obligation to inform or order a clearance of those facilities,
and any civilian casualty as a result of defiance is beyond our
responsibility," Sofyan said in a statement released on Sunday.
He said the warning was not intended to provoke or intimidate
civilians because it was regulated by international humanitarian
law.
"Civil servants remain simply civilians as long as they do not
involve themselves in the conflict. Civilians deserve protection
during a state of war according to the Geneva convention and
nobody can trespass that right," Sofyan said.
Thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed and
hundreds of public facilities, including schools, attacked in the
protracted armed fight between GAM and Indonesian security
troops, which dates back to the mid-1970s.
Security authorities always blame the losses claimed, both
human and material, on the rebels.
Sofyan denied GAM was responsible and said that in many cases
military operations by the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police
had resulted in human rights violations.
"GAM invites TNI and National Police to stop arguments about
civilian casualties. Let the monitoring team from the Henry
Dunant Center (HDR) determine who committed human rights abuse,"
Sofyan said.
HDR has facilitated a series of peace talks between the
Indonesian government and GAM in Geneva, the latest one taking
place on May 9 and May 10.
In the latest violence in Aceh, two men were shot dead by
unidentified gunmen on motorbikes in front of a junior high
school in the Cunda area of Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, on Monday.
Yusuf Passe, an activist with the local human rights group PB-
HAM, told AFP the attack caused panic among hundreds of children.
Students were sent home early following the incident.
One of the victims was believed to be a GAM member. No
confirmation was immediately available from police, but Sofyan
said both victims were civilians.
Earlier on Sunday, local military command spokesman Maj.
Zaenal Muttaqin said TNI personnel killed a rebel and confiscated
an automatic rifle and ammunition during a raid on a suspected
GAM base in Bukit Teumpon, East Aceh, on Saturday.
Muttaqin also said GAM members led by Tengku Anas had abducted
three employees of a plantation company in Darul Makmur, West
Aceh. The whereabouts of the three workers remain unknown.
It is the second case of abduction in less than a week after
GAM rebels kidnapped nine female students last Wednesday.