Int'l rights groups demand arms embargo against Indonesia
Int'l rights groups demand arms embargo against Indonesia
Reuters, London
A group of 90 human rights organizations, antiarms trade and
antiwar groups has demanded an international embargo against
selling arms to Indonesia, a human rights group said on Monday.
The British-based Indonesia Human Rights Campaign said the
appeal, which includes groups from Europe, North America, Asia
and Australia, was a response to Indonesia's military campaigns
in Aceh and Papua. The group goes by the name of TAPOL, which its
website says means "political prisoner" in Indonesian.
"Many of the groups are especially concerned that weaponry
from their countries is being used against civilians in Aceh,"
TAPOL said in a statement.
TAPOL said Indonesian military equipment included British
Scorpion tanks and Hawk jets, U.S. F-16 fighter planes, German
warships, and armored vehicles from France and Germany.
The groups said in a statement they urged governments to
embargo the supply of military, security and police equipment to
Indonesia and to suspend all military cooperation with the
world's most populous Muslim country.
On Sunday Indonesia's military sent three dozen British-made
Scorpion tanks to rebellious Aceh to guard roads in a move being
closely watched by London, which has sold such weaponry on
condition it not be used offensively.
Indonesia is in the middle of its biggest ever offensive to
crush the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which has sought independence
since 1976, after last-ditch peace talks collapsed in May.
The list of organizations involved in the campaign for a
military embargo includes Britain's Campaign Against Arms Trade,
the Australia West Papua Association and Amsterdam-based
Indonesia House.
"We have been warning the British government for years in fact
about supplying military equipment to Indonesia," TAPOL director
Carmel Budiardjo said, reacting to Sunday's deployment of British
tanks in Aceh.
"This is to us a complete vindication of what we have been
warning the British government about. These tanks will be used in
military operations and of course they will cause human rights
violations by causing deaths among the civilian population."