NGOs say military atrocities also occurred in C. Aceh
JAKARTA (JP): Rights activists alleged on Tuesday that military atrocities occurred in Central Aceh regency -- in addition to those found recently in the regencies of Pidie, East and North Aceh -- when the province was a military operation zone from 1989 to 1998.
The Aceh NGOs Forum told a media conference here that at least 52 cases of military violence had recently been reported by victims, family members, friends, and residents of the local community. Three people died and 16 others went missing from Central Aceh during the period, it added.
The atrocities reportedly took place in the villages of the regency's subdistricts of Kota, Bandar and Buket.
Afrizal Tjoetra, the group's secretary-general, termed the reports from Central Aceh "shocking". He was accompanied by Catholic scholar Mudji Sutrisno and several activists from the Jakarta-based Yapikka and Apik non-governmental organizations.
"They (the reports) have introduced a new agenda for the handling of Aceh case, given how (similar) cases in the regencies of North and East Aceh and Pidie have yet to be resolved to date."
Afrizal added: "The team also received a report that there is a mass grave in the Uyeem Popogoteun hill in Ruseb village of Bandar subdistrict (about 75 kilometers from the regency capital of Takengon)."
Takengon is about 250 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
Armed Forces (ABRI) spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif was not available for comment on Tuesday night.
The group's report of the mass grave has added to the list of 14 mass burial sites it compiled earlier together with the Lhokseumawe-based Iskandar Muda Legal Aid Institute and the Aceh Human Rights Forum. The previous list was limited to East and North Aceh and Pidie.
A team from the National Commission on Human Rights had exhumed several mass graves and confirmed that at least 781 people were killed during the nine-year ABRI military operation in the westernmost province.
The Aceh NGOs Forum's estimate of casualties suspected to be buried in the listed locations ranged from 1,165 to 1,800.
Commenting on the revelation, Mudji Sutrisno -- who said he was participating in the conference to give the group "moral support" -- asserted that the rampant rights violations should serve as an example why there should never be military operation zones in the future.
"The politics of violence against human beings, regardless of their religions, must be stopped in the name of human rights."
Meanwhile, Antara news agency also reported from Lhokseumawe the latest update on the number of cases of violence in North Aceh. It said a local fact-finding team set up to probe rights abuses in Aceh had found 155 new cases, allegedly committed by the military and separatist groups.
This latest data brings to 1,810 the total number of human rights abuses found in North Aceh by the team since it began investigations last month, team leaders Yacob Hamzah and TS Sani said on Tuesday.
The team found 140 cases in the eastern part of North Aceh: 130 were allegedly committed by the military, seven by members of the separatists who were also called the Security Disturbance Groups and perpetrators of the remaining three were not known.
In the western part of the regency, the team found 15 cases; the offenders were unknown in all the cases.
The team's latest finding included 16 deaths, 20 cases of missing people and 110 people tortured. Scores of wives and children were widowed and left fatherless, and their property seized. Based on its investigation from Sept. 11 to Oct. 5, the team recorded 628 widows and 2,033 fatherless children in North Aceh, they said.
The team also recorded that total material losses reached Rp 470.42 million. It said 242 houses were burned down and 1,866 grams of gold went missing.
The team interviewed the families of the victims as well as witnesses. It will continue gathering data until Oct. 11. (aan/27)