Tension increases in Aceh as deadline looms
Tension increases in Aceh as deadline looms
Nani Farida and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post,
Banda Aceh/Jakarta
Tension has increased in Aceh with just one week remaining of a
two-week deadline set by the government for separatists to lay
down their arms.
Witnesses said fully armed Indonesia Military (TNI) soldiers
were patrolling streets in the troubled regencies of East Aceh,
Aceh Besar, North Aceh, South Aceh and Pidie on Saturday. Some of
the troops rode in armored vehicles.
The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) also said they were on alert in
anticipation of a military and police crackdown.
Armed clashes have increased in the past week, with three
incidents on Saturday claiming the life of a civilian and a GAM
member.
People in the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe were shocked
by the shooting of a man in the middle of the busy town on
Saturday morning.
The victim, Abdullah Puteh, a native of Blang Crum village,
was shot in the head and chest by unidentified men as he sipped
coffee with friends at a foodstall, just 200 meters from a police
station.
The assassin fled on a waiting motorcycle driven by an
accomplice.
The incident initially created something of a furor among
locals and journalists as the victim has the same name as the
governor of Aceh.
North Aceh Police chief Sr. Adj. Comr. Eko Daniyanto said they
were investigating the murder of Abdullah, who was a member of
Rencong Aceh, a non-governmental organization.
Earlier Saturday, a GAM member was gunned down during a clash
with marines at Teupin Gajah village in South Aceh.
TNI spokesman Maj. Eddy Fernandi said dozens of GAM members
attacked a military post later in the day in the regency.
Two battalions of 1,200 Army reinforcements arrived in Aceh on
Saturday. They will add to the existing 26,000 soldiers, plus
14,000 police personnel in the province.
"Troops are all over the place and I heard in the villages
they are using armored vehicles during their patrols. Tension is
increasing here," a Lhokseumawe resident, who requested
anonymity, told The Jakarta Post by phone from Jakarta.
He said that so far the situation remained calm, despite the
shooting.
At the last minute, the government pulled out of peace talks
with GAM, scheduled for April 25 in Geneva, to discuss
implementation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed
by the two sides on Dec. 9 last year, also in Switzerland. The
cancellation followed GAM's request to delay the meeting by two
days.
The government later gave GAM until May 12 to return to the
negotiating table, on the conditions that it accept Aceh is a
part of Indonesia and it lays down its arms.
Jakarta has warned of an all-out military offensive against
the rebels if no compromise is reached within the deadline.
Pressure is mounting on the government, from within and
outside Indonesia, to settle the issue peacefully.
On Saturday, Muhammadiyah Chairman Ahmad Syafii Maarif said
that about 50 Acehnese leaders had asked for a meeting with
President Megawati Soekarnoputri to halt the possibility of a war
in Aceh.
GAM negotiator in Aceh Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba said on Saturday
that the rebels were refusing to comply with the deadline, which
ends next Friday.
"The government already launched a military offensive when the
meeting was canceled, exchanges of fire happen every day .... So
what's the difference?"
Sofyan said GAM would not talk about the meeting until the
deadline passed.
He said GAM had also insisted on holding talks in Geneva.
David Gorman, coordinator of the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC),
which is acting as peace broker, said it had been in regular
contact with both sides regarding the place, date and agenda of
the meeting.
"We will begin the discussion of the date next week," Gorman
told the Post, refusing to comment on the government's Friday
deadline.