NAD remains volatile as council speaker abducted

NAD remains volatile as council speaker abducted

The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe

A chief councillor was abducted in Langsa, East Aceh and several
bodies were recovered in Peurelak in the regency on Wednesday,
highlighting the unstable situation in the province, which the
military recently claimed was gradually returning to "normal".

Budiman Samaun, 54, chairman of the Langsa regency legislative
council was reported missing on Wednesday but witnesses said he
was abducted by rebels.

Quoting several witnesses, the local police said Budiman was
abducted by unidentified men when he was riding a motorcycle on
his way from his residence in Matang Seulimeng to Seulalah
subdistrict in the Langsa town on Wednesday.

"He was taken away, and so was his motorcycle," said Aceh
police spokesman Commissioner Sayed Husaini quoted a witness as
saying in Langsa.

Sayed said that the police were still looking for the
abductors and investigating the motives behind the abduction.

Separately, the spokesman of the military operation in Aceh
Lt. Col. Achmad Yani Basuki said that the abduction was carried
out by four people.

He explained that the four people who abducted the chief
councillor were demanding a ransom from his family. "This
abduction is similar to other abductions in other areas of the
province," he said, adding that he believed GAM separatists had
abducted several people to seek funds for the organization.

Budiman's abduction has on more in a long list of councillors
abducted in Aceh. Many of them were shot dead while many others
were released after a ransom was paid. Amirudin, a councillor
from Langsa Regency with the United Development Party faction was
also nabbed and later found dead.

Yani said that a female corpse was found at 8 a.m in the
regency. The victim was known as Dahnir, 31, a resident of Pasir
Putih village in Peureulak district. "The victim's body had
gunshot wounds in the back of the head and neck," said Yani.

The military claimed the situation in Aceh was under control
for the most part after it targeted suspected GAM leaders with
three F-16 Falcon and OV-10 Bronco bombers on Monday and Tuesday.

Meanwhile, RCTI television reporter Ersa Siregar who along
with his cameraman Ferry Santoro, who was taken hostage last
month was reported to be suffering from exhaustion.

Ishak Dawood, a GAM spokesman in East Aceh confirmed that Ersa
collapsed on Tuesday night due to exhaustion.

Ishak said that his group was willing to release Ersa for
medical treatment, on the condition of a week-long cease fire.