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.