Refugees continue to flow out of Aceh villages

Refugees continue to flow out of Aceh villages

By Ati Nurbaiti and Tarmilin Usman

SIGLI, Aceh (JP): Despite reports of a new police operation to
improve security, residents of troubled Pidi regency have
continued to flow out of their villages in fear of armed
conflicts between separatist guerrillas and military personnel.

Residents of mountainous Tiro district followed on Thursday
those who fled Meurudu, Ulim and Bandar Dua over the past three
days. The latest estimate of the number of refugees in Pidie was
70,000, according to a Sigli student volunteer outpost, excluding
this week's exodus.

A student volunteer in Banda Aceh said that if the refugees do
not return home and work their land soon, "We fear food shortage
will hit Aceh", given that many of the refugees are farmers.

However, refugees have refused to return, Ridarantau said on
Thursday.

Fishermen from Meurudu have brought their boat engines to the
refugee camps, fearing that they would be stolen.

Student volunteers in Sigli, the capital of Pidie, denied
official reports that refugees were starting to return home. They
said the refugees would not go home before Aug. 17, following
rumors that separatists would pull down Indonesian flags on the
commemoration of Independence Day and carry out intimidation.

On Wednesday it was reported that police and volunteers from
campuses in the regency were to coordinate the return of some
22,000 people from Tangse district alone. They have been staying
since June 26 at several refugee camps.

Ichsan, a volunteer, said a number of men from Tangse had
gathered courage and returned to their villages so they could
harvest their crops, including rice, and store it under their
stilt homes before heading back to the refugee camps.

A journalist said, "Because they had no money, the refugees
were forced to go to their villages, risking their lives, to
harvest their coffee and sell it at the nearest market" before
dashing back to the camps. Police have said they will provide
security and food for returning refugees only for a short period.

Safety

Aceh Police chief Col. Bachrumsyah told The Jakarta Post in
Banda Aceh on Wednesday that security personnel could not
entirely guarantee the safety of returning refugees.

The volunteers, including campus management staff, had told
police that the separatist Free Aceh Movement rebels had assured
them they would not harass or harm returning refugees. "But
regarding unknown armed groups, I said both security personnel
and (those assisting refugees) should watch out," Bachrumsyah
said.

While security personnel keep playing down the strength of the
Free Aceh Movement, military and police authorities here
acknowledge they "do not know" who the armed "hoodlums" are,
whose actions, they say, have wrongly been blamed entirely on the
Crack Riot Troops.

Police here claim Crack Riot Troops are no longer operating,
following an uproar over alleged rights abuses by members. They
were earlier deployed to crush rebel groups, and police say they
were sent back to their original areas since Operation Sadar
Rencong for law enforcement was launched on Aug. 1.

The military has been replaced by police, leaving only local
military members, police said.

Bachrumsyah said a few thousand elite Police Mobile Brigade
members were needed to safeguard the 600-kilometer highway from
Banda Aceh to Lhokseumawe in the north. Several vehicles,
including a gas tanker, have been set on fire here, and more than
a dozen refugee camps are located nearby.

Bachrumsyah claimed that all 7,000 newly stationed police and
military troops had arrived for assignment across Aceh. Three
thousand were police and the rest were replacements for various
non-combat members such as health, intelligence and information
officials, he said.

Military Police are now stationed in all regencies and alleged
violations are immediately tackled, he said.

Pidie Police chief Col. Endang E. Bagus told the Post in Sigli
on Wednesday that the community was beginning to appreciate the
fact that police were now in the front line of law enforcement
operations.

"People came to greet officers at the Sigli Police Station,"
Endang said, saying that people were happy that law enforcers
were now persuasive, polite and friendly.

He would not comment on earlier reports that Crack Riot Troop
members had intimidated and shot and killed people during road
checks.

"If you don't believe me just look along the highway, there
are no more military members apart from those at the military
command," Endang said.

A driver who encountered a road check in Sigli said on
Thursday that such checks were less frightening now. Security
personnel "have only been polite in the last few days", Munim
said.