Nessen wants safe passage out of RI
Nessen wants safe passage out of RI
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
American journalist William Nessen did not comply on Saturday
with the Indonesian Military (TNI) ultimatum to leave the Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel group and report to the military.
He said that he would only go if he was allowed to leave
Indonesia without arrest or interrogation.
Nessen did not heed the Saturday 6 p.m. deadline, set by Aceh
military operation commander Brig. Gen. Bambang Darmono on
Thursday. The TNI gave the deadline to allow time for Nessen to
leave the GAM camp in order to avoid injury to the American
journalist in the ongoing military offensive.
"I will come out if the TNI and the Indonesian government
guarantee that I can leave the country without being arrested,
interrogated or stopped," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone
from his hiding place about 30 minutes after the deadline.
Aceh military operation spokesman Lt. Col. Achmad Yani Basuki
could not be reached for comment on Nessen's demand.
Nessen said that he would like to be accompanied by a member
of staff from the American Embassy and the International Red
Cross should he decide to leave the rebels' hiding place.
Bambang had said earlier he had no objection to Nessen leaving
the GAM camp to report to the military under the observance of an
American diplomat.
Nessen, who is known to journalists in Aceh as Abu Billy, has
been traveling with the rebel group since before the military
operation began on May 19.
The military believes he has joined the group of GAM leader
Muzakir Manaf.
Due to security concerns, Nessen declined to mention his
hiding place. The military surmises that he might be in Nisam or
Sawang area in the North Aceh regency.
Bambang has warned that Nessen's presence among the rebels
will not hamper the ongoing military operation to quash the GAM
separatists. The passing of the deadline meant that attacks
against GAM positions would continue regardless of the American's
presence among the GAM rebels.
On Thursday, the TNI displayed several of Nessen's belongings
which he had left behind in haste when they raided the rebels'
position a day earlier. Some of those items were pictures of him
and his family and friends and also several of his videotapes.
Footage from the tapes shown to journalists included him
interviewing a young rebel and rebels engaged in a gunfight with
Indonesian troops.
Nessen acknowledged that staying with the rebels would mean he
remained in danger, but said he wanted to complete his coverage
of them and tell the story of the 27-year-old independence
struggle from their perspective.
A freelance journalist, Nessen's articles on Aceh have been
published in many major newspapers around the world, including
the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Boston Globe.
Meanwhile, 34 residents of Blang Seupang village, Jeumpa
subdistrict of Bireuen district, Aceh, said they had been
tortured by a marine unit of the Indonesian Military. Four of
them showed their wounds and told their experience to RCTI
private television station and Radio 68-H.
But the marine commander, Second Lt. Danang Wahyu, whose unit
was accused of torturing the civilians, vehemently denied the
accusation.
"Why don't you journalists bring them (the villagers) here, so
we can crosscheck the facts," he said.
The villagers, who forced Jakarta-based press cars to stop,
told the TV and radio journalists that the marine units came on
Friday at around 3 p.m. and asked them about the whereabouts of
GAM members. The villagers said they knew nothing about GAM and
said that the rebels only came to the village at night.
They claimed the marine unit members selected 34 people
between 17 and 45 years old and told them to lay down. The
marines began to walk on their bodies. Four of the villagers --
Mustafa Usman, Ibrahim, Mohammad and Majid -- were severely
tortured.