Road blocks causes food shortage in Aceh
Ibnu Mat Noor and Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
As killings continue in restive Aceh province, tens of thousands of people in three subdistricts of Pidie regency are facing food shortages following a road block by separatist rebels.
Local officials said on Wednesday, the three remote subdistricts -- Tangse, Mane and Geumpang -- had been isolated since the single road to Sigli was barricaded with big stones and tree trunks three days ago.
Head of Tangse subdistrict Ridwan said cars and motorcycles were not able to pass through the road blockade located in the mountainous area of Linggong Panyang currently controlled by members of the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Local residents did not dare pass the deserted area, where echoes of gunfire were often heard, he added.
Ridwan said the road block had diminished food stocks in the isolated subdistricts since last Sunday.
Pidie district military chief Maj. Taufik Risnandar said government troops had been dispatched to the region and an exchange of fire had ensued at Manee village but there were no reports of casualties.
Pidie's GAM spokesman Abu Nizam claimed that around 500 of the armed guerrillas controlled strategic locations in the three mountainous subdistricts.
He claimed the move was aimed at preventing villagers from becoming victims of human rights abuses by military troops, adding that GAM personnel chose to fight with them to protect civilians.
"GAM is responsible for all attacks to counter violent actions by the Indonesian Military (TNI)," Nizam added.
In a related development, fresh firefights continued across Aceh on Tuesday in at least five locations, killing at least one member of the local police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit, and one rebel.
Local police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Dade Achmad, said on Wednesday First Brig. Kusmayanto from the Central Java capital of Semarang was shot dead in a gunfight with separatists in the area of Krueng Unoe in Sampoiniet subdistrict, West Aceh.
A GAM member was also killed in the clash, he added.
Meanwhile, in Bireun regency, the Indonesia Red Cross recovered the body of 36-year-old Tisara Muhammad, who had been kidnapped by rebels on Saturday, her son Muhammad Rizal said on Tuesday evening. Her body was recovered from a river in Paya Cut village of Peusangan district.
Tisara was the wife of the late Abed Beuransah, a Golkar Party figure in North Aceh. Abed was shot dead three years ago after being abducted by alleged rebels.
Meanwhile, director of the Banda Aceh-based Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Rufriadi said that human rights abuse had increased in the strife-torn province. He urged the central government to allow international rapporteurs to intervene.
At least 393 cases were recorded in Aceh by LBH last month.
"It shows there is no reduction in the number of violent incidents here," Rufriadi said.
Such a security condition should have prompted the government to allow United Nations rapporteurs to come to Aceh for investigative purposes, Rufriadi said.
The Indonesian government has rejected a European Union's recommendation for the UN to dispatch a team of investigators to the restive province.
Rufriadi said all the human rights abuses were committed by military and police personnel during May. "That's what was reported by our regional network. The violence committed by GAM has not been recorded yet," he added.
He said the arrests of at least 117 people by local security authorities topped the recorded cases of violence, adding that all of them are still being detained.
Among the detainees is Kusofiyan, leader of the Brotherhood Solidarity for Victims of Human Rights Abuses, who is being held at the South Aceh Police office.
Also included in the May human rights abuses were 82 cases of killing, disappearances of 29 civilians and 163 cases of torture.
"The human rights abuses are real in Aceh. Don't cover them up any longer," Rufriadi said.