Mass grave in Aceh spoils peace hopes

Mass grave in Aceh spoils peace hopes

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): The return of peace remains a remote
hope in the province after a village chief was shot dead in East
Aceh, where locals in the remote village of Sijuek also found a
mass grave.

East Aceh Police chief Lt. Col. Abdullah Hayati said on
Saturday security personnel fired at Muhammad Ali, 38, the head
of Alue Bugeng village in Darul Aman district on Thursday during
a siege of a house suspected of sheltering Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) separatist rebels.

"We besieged the house after we received information from
locals that it has been frequented by members of GAM," Abdullah
said.

He said security personnel opened fire when the people inside
the house tried to escape through the back door after being
called on to surrender.

"He (Muhammad) was shot as he was trying to escape," Abdullah
said, adding that an estimated five other suspects managed to
flee.

Residents of Sijuek found four unidentified bodies dumped in a
shallow hole in a ravine in a thick forest located about 30
kilometers south of the district capital of Simpang Ulim.

The remains were reburied by the residents later on Saturday.

Witnesses said the bodies were not locals of Sijuek,
suspecting that they were victims of a joint security raid in the
district a week before.

Abdullah, however, denied the allegation on Saturday. "Police
did not kill those people," he said.

Meanwhile on Friday the bodies of three men were found in
separate places in North Aceh district, local police chief Lt.
Col. Syafei Aksal said.

"The three were probably killed due to political motives. We
are investigating these cases," Syafei said.

The body of Ayub Zakaria, 25, was found with his throat slit
in Panton Rayeuk village of Kuta Makmur district.

While an unidentified male body wearing military trousers was
found with bruises and stab wounds on a hill in Parya Bili
village in Muara Dua district. Another decomposing body was
discovered floating in Peudada River.

Separately, Japanese activist Suseiki Natsuko, the secretary
general of the Network for Indonesian Democracy-Japan (Nindja)
said on Saturday that the United States and Japan were indirectly
responsible for fostering human rights violations in Aceh.

Speaking at a seminar on human rights and democracy in Banda
Aceh, Natsuko said during the 10 years of military operations to
quell the separatist movement that ended in 1998, giant foreign
companies such as Mobil Oil Inc. (now Exxon-Mobil) and PT Arun
NGL Co. provided facilities for the Indonesian military, which
were later used as torture camps for suspected rebels and
civilians allegedly involved in politics.

Reports says that locals were familiar with camps which were
called "Camp Rencong" by the Army's Special Force (Kopassus).
Unconfirmed reports said that after former minister of security
and defense/Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Wiranto
revoked the military operation on August 7, 1998, one such camp
was destroyed by PT Arun NGL Co.

Locals and survivors of such camps also said that several
empty buildings within Mobil Oil's compound in Lhoksukon were
used as military bases during a decade of operations against GAM
rebels. (50/51/edt)