Three ExxonMobil workers abducted in Aceh

Three ExxonMobil workers abducted in Aceh

Agence France-Presse, Banda Aceh

Three ExxonMobil workers have been kidnapped by unknown gunmen in
Indonesia's Aceh province, the military said Friday.

The three were driving home Thursday afternoon when the
kidnapping occurred in the Blang Geudong area of North Aceh, an
armed forces spokesman, Navy Major Edi Fernandi, said.

He accused the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels of
abducting the missing men, whom Fernandi identified as two
ExxonMobil mechanics, Saifuddin and Samsul, and another worker,
Iskandar.

GAM's district spokesman Teungku Jamaica denied rebel
involvement.

ExxonMobil's natural gas and oil operations in Aceh are one of
Indonesia's major revenue earners. Company facilities are heavily
guarded by government troops who have been accused by local
residents of human rights violations.

In 2001, ExxonMobil temporarily suspended operations in Aceh
because of security concerns.

The kidnapping comes as 1,400 Indonesian troops continue a 24-
day siege of dozens of GAM rebels in the interior of North Aceh
district, just weeks before the planned signing of a peace
agreement between the two sides.

International mediators from the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC)
announced on Tuesday the planned December 9 signing that could
bring an end to the 26-year conflict.

An advance team is already in Aceh preparing for the arrival
of foreign security monitors who would help to ensure stability
after the peace agreement takes effect.

Since the start of GAM's struggle for an independent state in
1976, an estimated 10,000 people have died in the province at the
northern tip of Sumatra.

GAM abducted ExxonMobil workers in March, May and July this
year in apparent attempt to extort the U.S.-based mining company.

GAM abducted three employees -- a driver and two workers-- of
ExxonMobil from its oil field in East Aceh on March 16 for a
ransom of Rp 2 billion.

The abductees have yet to be released since both the
government and ExxonMobil have rejected GAM's demand for ransom.

Eight more employees of ExxonMobil at the Pasee gas field in
North Aceh were taken hostage by eight armed civilians on May 28,
2002, for Rp 4 billion (about US$476,000) in ransom from the
company.

But the gunmen released the workers later under pressure from
local security authorities.

Armed men suspected of belonging to the rebel Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) kidnapped nine of the 11 crew members of a boat
chartered by PT ExxonMobil Indonesia to deliver supplies to
workers at an offshore oil exploration site in waters off North
Aceh in July.

The local military said the nine crew members of the KM
Pelangi were abducted by a group of armed men who hijacked the
vessel off the Jambo Ayee coast on Sunday.

Their whereabouts so far remains unknown.

Earlier, at least 12 female students were taken hostage by
GAM, who later released them unharmed. Most recently, nine
sportsmen were abducted by unidentified armed men after returning
from a local sports competition.