Security tight prior to hostages' release

Security tight prior to hostages' release

Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Langsa, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam

The military has tightened security along the main road
between Lhokseumawe and Langsa, East Aceh ahead of the release of
hostages held by rebels, including RCTI private television
station cameraman Fery Santoro.

TNI officers and tanks were seen on Friday stopping buses and
checking passengers' identification cards every two kilometers
along the main road.

Safri, a driver of Pelangi bus company that travels between
Lhokseumawe and Medan, North Sumatra, revealed that his bus had
been stopped by the officers seven times since entering East
Aceh.

"We had to stop even after driving for only a few minutes.
Every male passenger was told to show their IDs," Safri told The
Jakarta Post.

Despite the scrutiny, he did not mind "as long as they don't
hit people". The public in the past have complained of harassment
and violence involving security personnel during such operations.

Separately, TNI announced on Friday that their personnel had
killed four members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in a clash in
Mata'i hamlet, Pasir Raja district, South Aceh.

Three of them were identified as Salim, 32, Muzakir, 24 and
Ridwan Syah, 25, while the fourth man has not yet been
identified. They were shot dead on Thursday, Antara reported.

Fery and RCTI senior reporter Sory Ersa Siregar, along with
two women and their driver, were abducted by GAM rebels in June,
last year.

The driver, Rachmatsyah, managed to escape on Dec. 17 while
Ersa was killed in Peureulak, East Aceh on Dec. 29. The TNI said
he was killed by the military in a crossfire between soldiers and
GAM fighters. Fery, who fled, only learned of Ersa's death later,
thinking Ersa was behind him. It is not known whether there were
any witnesses of Ersa's death as TNI claimed to have killed seven
of the rebels in the incident, while Fery told reporters that he
and Ersa were with "about seven" GAM members when the shots were
first heard.

Officials are silent on the progress of negotiation to release
the hostages. GAM claimed last year it was holding 84 hostages
but a group of demonstrators on Thursday demanded the release of
all "279" hostages.

Representatives of the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) and chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI)
Mar'ie Muhammad have been in Langsa, East Aceh since Thursday.

"It's too premature to talk about the negotiations. We are
just glad that GAM and TNI have agreed that the release of
hostages is a humanitarian affair," Mar'ie said on Friday.

In Jakarta, Vice President Hamzah Haz reiterated that the
government would not fulfill a cease-fire condition demanded by
GAM in releasing the hostages.

"The Indonesian Military has underscored that it would be
impossible to do so ... it would mean that we acknowledge GAM as
a state," he told reporters.