Many civilians have firearms in troubled Aceh, military says

JAKARTA (JP): Many civilians in the troubled province of Aceh have armed themselves with various weapons including AK-47 rifles and guns, the military said on Wednesday.

Speaking in the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe, local military chief Lt. Col. Giyono confirmed the trend. "It is true that many civilians in North Aceh have firearms," Giyono was quoted by Antara as saying.

Evidence of this was found in cases of shooting of people suspected of being cuak or former military informants during the military operations of 1989-1998.

Giyono cited the recent murders of two alleged informants in Tanah Luas and Baktiya districts by North Aceh residents toting AK-47s and guns.

He speculated the firearms were seized by the civilians from military personnel such as Marine Maj. Ediyanto who was reportedly abducted by separatists last December and has yet to be heard of again.

"This is intolerable. Those people have gone overboard. They have disrupted peace and made people feel threatened," he said.

He accused some of the civilians of executing their victims in public in broad daylight. "We have been encountering difficulties in tracking down these armed civilians because residents often say they knew nothing of them," Giyono said, pledging, however, to continue efforts to hunt down the alleged culprits.

Over the past several months, Aceh again saw outbursts of violence, the latest incident of which was last week when a group of "unidentified men" opened fire on residents listening to a separatist speech in Idi Cut, East Aceh.

Meanwhile, from Ambon, the scene of massive violence last month, it was reported on Wednesday that only 30 percent of civil servants have ventured to leave their homes to report for work.

Antara quoted Maluku Governor Saleh Latuconsina as expressing his understanding of the trauma that the civil servants and other residents must have been experiencing because of the violence that broke out on Jan. 19.

However, "I will take strong action if they are still away from the office by this weekend," Saleh warned.

A total of 105 people were killed in the violence that lasted almost a week in Ambon and other areas, while another 105 were injured and 2,500 buildings, dozens of places of worship and other facilities were burned down or otherwise damaged. (swe)