Rights group accuses TNI of Aceh abuses

Rights group accuses TNI of Aceh abuses

JAKARTA (JP): Amnesty International on Wednesday accused the
Indonesian Military (TNI) of rampant violence in Aceh and said
that deploying more troops in the province would only worsen the
situation.

The London-based group said "the armed opposition also have a
responsibility to halt human rights abuses and to immediately
instruct GAM (Free Aceh movement) members to stop unlawful
killings of soldiers and civilians".

Amnesty's strongest criticism however, was directed at the
military. It said that at least 40 -- possibly as many as 70 --
people were reportedly killed by security forces during counter-
insurgency operations in Beutong village, West Aceh, on July 23.

The military said the victims were killed in a gunfight, but
witnesses said they were massacred.

Jakarta has sent about 1,200 reinforcement troops to Aceh
after 41 civilian protesters were killed in North Aceh in May.
Some 7,000 more troops will be dispatched to crush the ongoing
rebel movement.

Amnesty however said: "in the current climate of impunity,
increasing troop numbers, rather than attempting to address the
problems in Aceh, will only worsen Aceh's already critical human
rights situation."

Amnesty said it had warned in January that human rights
violations could escalate if troops were redeployed to Aceh.

"Since then dozens of people have been unlawfully killed,
including by troops sent to the province in recent months to
resolve the violence," Amnesty said.

Violence has been on the rise in the province, claiming more
than 200 lives, including troops and police. The violence has
also displaced nearly 100,000 people, who are now sheltering in
mosques and school buildings.

"The recent escalation in human rights violations in Aceh,
including dozens of extrajudicial executions, disappearances and
arbitrary arrests flies in the face of the government's
commitments to address human rights problems in Indonesia,"
Amnesty said.

It also said: "President B.J. Habibie's government has so far
failed to bring to justice members of security forces who
tortured, disappeared or unlawfully killed thousands of Acehnese
during counter-insurgency operations in Aceh from 1989 to 1998.

"The government's failure to address human rights violations
in the past sends a message to the security forces that they can
continue to kill ... without being held to account."

From Banda Aceh Teuku Umar military commander Col. Syarifuddin
Tippe, in response to Amnesty International's allegations, said
Wednesday, "it is impossible that TNI could be so cruel."

"What do you think we are, the enemy of the state?"

Regarding the incident in West Aceh, he reiterated the
original report of the military that 31 had died despite findings
of new bodies.

There was a possibility that the additional victims were
killed by the Free Aceh Movement members themselves, Syarifuddin
said, citing earlier incidents in which civilians were found dead
with severe wounds or were chopped up.

"The reason why people fear the GAM more than the military is
that they are more sadistic," he said.

On progress of TNI's efforts regarding the Aceh problem,
including the assignment of high ranking officers to the
province, he said he had no knowledge of results of the
assignment of former Jakarta military commander Sjafrie
Sjamsuddin in Aceh.

The military has said Sjafrie, similar to Lt.Gen. Fachrul
Razi, who is now the secretary general to the Ministry of Defense
and Security, had been assigned to Aceh "to seek input" to
solutions to the Aceh problem. A spokesman had then denied rumors
that Sjafrie had anything to do with recent atrocities in Aceh.
(byg/anr)