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)