Postal service halted in war-torn Aceh

Postal service halted in war-torn Aceh

Yuli Trisuwarni and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Bandung/Lhokseumawe

National postal service PT Pos Indonesia indefinitely suspended
its operation across Aceh starting Monday due to security
concerns.

Spokesman of Pos Indonesia Arief Setyanto told reporters
employees had found it difficult to make postal deliveries to the
war-torn province since the government imposed martial law.

"As we have learned, the security condition in Aceh is no
longer favorable and most of the land transportation routes we
use have been paralyzed. We cannot conduct our duty as usual
(under such conditions)," Arief said.

All postal services have been halted, except for ordinary
letter deliveries, and the suspension will affect the delivery of
parcels and packages, postal money orders and transfers and
express mail services.

Arief said parcel deliveries had been stopped due to the high
risk that parcels may go missing or fail to reach recipients.

He said the postal company was basing its decision on the 1974
Lausanne Resolution No. C-37 on postal services during war, which
requires postal companies to continue services unless the UN
Security Council or General Assembly bans postal services to a
war zone.

It is not known whether either UN body has placed such a ban
on postal services to Aceh.

"We have employees whose safety must be ensured, now that the
situation in Aceh is getting worse and hindering our jobs," Arief
said.

Pos Indonesia will suspend its activities until government
troops thoroughly restore order, before resuming full services.

Entering the third week of its operation in Aceh, the
Indonesian Military (TNI) claimed on Monday to have taken control
of more Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist strongholds.

Commander of the military operation in Aceh, Brig. Gen.
Bambang Darmono, attributed the success in part to the Acehnese
people, whom he said had provided information about the presence
of GAM camps.

"I can say now that people in Aceh have become more
cooperative with us as some of them now have the courage to
support us by providing information regarding the presence of
camps belonging to GAM rebels.

"Some of the rebels have also fled to the forests and started
eating plants in the forests because people no longer supply them
with food as happened before we launched the operation here,"
Bambang said.

He added that in some places, the military have managed to
separate rebels from civilians, despite the separatists' efforts
to blend with local residents and conceal their weapons.

Since the imposition of martial law on May 19, the government
has deployed over 40,000 military and police personnel in an
operation to crush the separatist rebels, who have fought for
independence since 1976. There are an estimated 5,000 guerrilla
fighters, with only half of them armed.

Bambang refused to disclose the GAM strongholds the military
had seized in detail, saying it would jeopardize the interests of
military operation. But he said some of the GAM bases were
located in North Aceh, West Aceh, Central Aceh, Aceh Besar, Aceh
Tamiang, Seledon and Serui.

He further said that even though GAM rebels continued their
sporadic attacks by setting fire to public transportation
vehicles and buildings, the number of attacks was no longer
significant compared to the first days of the operation.

As of Monday, the military had sized 38 weapons belonging to
the rebels, including rifles and hand guns.