One killed, 45 houses burned down in Aceh

One killed, 45 houses burned down in Aceh

Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

One person was shot dead and 45 houses were burned down during a
clash between Free Aceh Movement (GAM) guerrillas and dozens of
security personnel in Buket Makarti village, Tanah Luas, North
Aceh, on Tuesday, just a week before peace talks are to take
place in Geneva on May 8 and May 9.

Yusni Abdullah, a social worker with the People's Crisis
Center in North Aceh, told the media here on Tuesday this latest
clash also displaced 165 people, including children, who are now
being sheltered at Polytechnic Institute in Lhokseumawe.

He said the one fatality in the clash had been identified as
Abdul Wahab, 30. The deceased was shot when the soldiers were
patrolling the village, located five kilometers from the
ExxonMobil gas and oil plant in Lhoksukon.

On Sunday, six people believed to be GAM rebels were killed
during a clash with the military in North Aceh.

Yusni said people in the regency were afraid to leave their
houses as a result of this recent escalation of violence.

Besides the recent violence in North Aceh, 175 people are
taking refuge at the campus of the Ar-Raniry Islamic Teaching
Institute and the office of the Jeumpa Mirah non-governmental
organization (NGO), after their houses in their villages in South
and East Aceh were burned down.

The killing and intimidation of civilians in Aceh has sparked
increasing protests from various quarters and local NGOs, who say
the continued violence has derailed any chance for success at the
planned peace talks.

GAM has insisted on international mediation at the talks, in
order to ensure it receives equal treatment with Indonesia. The
government and the Indonesian Military have set as a condition
that the peace talks must be held in the context of the unitary
state of Indonesia, meaning that independence for Aceh is off of
the table.

Ibrahim Tibo, a GAM negotiator, said the presence of third-
country mediators at the talks and a multinational peacekeeping
force in Aceh were necessary to develop mutual trust on both
sides.

The peace talks will amount to nothing and nothing will change
in the province if the military continues killing civilians and
intimidating them, he said.

"There is no need for the two sides to hold further talks if
both sides do not begin at the same starting point and with the
same perspective," he said.

The Information Center for a Referendum in Aceh (SIRA) was in
agreement that a third party was necessary at the Geneva talks.

"The prolonged conflict must be resolved peacefully. More and
more people will be killed if both sides are not ready to stop
the violence," Faidal Ridha, the spokesman for SIRA, said.

Separately, Brig. Gen. Muhammad Djali Yusuf, the head of the
Iskandar Muda Military Command overseeing Aceh, ruled out GAM's
conditions, saying the government and the military would reject
the presence of third parties at the talks and foreign
peacekeepers in the province.

"The military will never allow any foreign interference in the
country's affairs, because that will not solve the conflict. We
can solve the conflict internally," he said.

He also said the presence of refugees in the provincial
capital had been engineered to attract international attention to
the conflict.

Muhammad said security authorities would guarantee the safety
of the refugees if they wanted to return to their homes.

"If they were really facing threats and intimidation from
security personnel, then other people in the two regencies would
also be taking refuge," he said.