Speakers say Aceh refugees need international aid

Speakers say Aceh refugees need international aid

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of refugees in Aceh need international
aid because the government and private parties in the country are
not providing them sufficient help, speakers at a discussion on
Aceh here said.

Muhammad Ali, who recently came from a refugee camp in
Lhokseumawe, said during Thursday's event that "it had been over
a year since we were traumatized" and the help of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was urgent.

"We don't know who is behind all this (violence)," he said.
"The people only know that the military sets up roadblocks and
their driver licenses and vehicle documents are never returned,
and that they are sometimes beaten."

"Now the children cannot go to school because their schools
have been burned down," Muhammad said, referring to a rash of
school burnings over the past few months.

He said many of the 6,200 refugees in one camp suffered from
fevers and lung problems.

The independent Committee for Missing Persons and Victims of
Violence (Kontras) recently announced there were almost 60,000
refugees in various areas.

Sociologist Otto Syamsudin Ishak, who is based in Banda Aceh,
said he feared the refugees' health could deteriorate in the next
month if the harvest was not successful.

Apart from the weather factor, "The new trend now is the
harassment of refugee camps," he told participants at the
discussion, hosted by Kontras.

He said soldiers disturbed the camps' water sources and the
refugees' efforts to collect food from passersby.

Military members were "shocked" when residents fled their
arrival, he said.

Otto said locals' reaction reflected the fear the 10-year
military operation in the province had instilled in residents.
The operation was ended last year. "They (residents) now refuse
to serve the military and they leave their homes as a sign of
rebellion or self-defense."

The military has said residents were being driven from their
homes by separatists.

Acehnese participants at the talks said the separatist Free
Aceh Movement had never been known to burn buses and schools.

At the event, a woman, Rosmita, appealed to authorities to
return her two sons, who were both employees at the state-owned
electricity company. One was taken in early 1998 and the other
was taken earlier this month, she said. "They are not involved in
the Free Aceh Movement."

She said that since her sons were taken by the military, she
had not been allowed to see them.

A former politician with the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)
reported cases of violence against women, including mass rapes.

"We ask, what if the victims were daughters of (President
B.J.) Habibie and (military commander Gen.) Wiranto," Nursita
Andi said, adding that the latest reported rape occurred last
week.

Separately, Minister of Justice Muladi said at the House of
Representatives an independent team to investigate cases of
violence in Aceh would soon be established.

A member of the National Commission on Human Rights, Samsudin,
a former military officer, said the commission refused to
participate in the team because of the time limit placed on cases
the team would be allowed to investigate. This time limit means
alleged human rights abuses committed during the 10-year military
operation will not be investigated by the team.

He said the national commission would continue its efforts to
establish another team to investigate alleged abuses in Aceh.
"The government has a continuing responsibility from one period
to another."

Gen. Wiranto earlier said the public should remember that
several soldiers were also the victims of rights abuses in Aceh.
(anr)