Three more mass graves found in Aceh

Three more mass graves found in Aceh

Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

With the signing on Dec. 9, 2002 of the cessation of hostilities
agreement between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the
Acehnese people began to feel emboldened enough to speak about
the crimes committed by GAM in the past, starting with the three
mass graves found in Kemukiman Manggamat, South Aceh.

A group of residents from the village met on Monday with Maj.
Gen. Djali M. Jusuf, chief of the Iskandarmuda Military Command
overseeing Aceh, to report their finding the graves two months
ago, and to call for authorities to follow up with a thorough
investigation.

The group said the three mass graves were found accidentally
by locals on Jan. 30, and contained the skeletons of 16 men from
the villages of Jambo Papan and Sarah Baru, some 665 kilometers
southeast of Banda Aceh.

Effendi, head of Sarah Baru Village, said villagers knew the
16 skeletons were those of men from the clothes they were
wearing.

"The mass grave in Jambo Papan contained four skeletons, while
the other two in Sawah Baru contained 12 skeletons," he said,
adding that the skeletons were reburied in an Islamic burial
ceremony.

Residents of Kemukiman Manggamat believed that the mass graves
was evidence of GAM's bloody crackdown against locals on June 5,
2001.

Effendi said that on that day, a group of GAM rebels raided
the village for those who refused to support the separatist
movement, and dozens of locals were arrested because they had no
money to give to GAM.

"The villagers were intimidated and forced to pay money to
GAM. Those who were unable to pay money were tortured to death
and their bodies buried," said Effendi.

Along with Effendi, Amran, secretary of the village, said
villagers believed there were many more mass graves in the
districts because hundreds of villagers had been arrested and
abducted during the raids.

Djali called on human rights institutions and the Henry Dunant
Centre (HDC) facilitating the peace process to conduct a thorough
investigation on the mass graves and the villagers' accounts.

"Human rights institutions and the HDC should investigate the
mass graves and pressure GAM in this," he said, adding that he
had ordered an Army Strategic Reserve Command group (Kostrad) to
accompany people in the district to look for other mass graves.

Last week, the Oil and Gas Coordinating Body (BP Migas)
complained about the widespread extortion of oil and gas
companies in the province by GAM rebels after the peace accord
had been signed. A number of villages have also reported that GAM
extorted money from villages which were strongholds of the
separatist movement.

GAM has reportedly forced villages to pay Rp 10 million
(USS$1,110) and has coerced contractor companies to set aside 10
percent of the contract value of their projects as contributions
toward GAM.

The National Commission of Human Rights has also found dozens
of mass graves in Lhokseumawe containing thousands of bodies
belonging to those who were killed during the military operation
conducted between 1989 and 1999 in the province under former
president Soeharto's repressive regime.

The military has made an apology to the people, especially to
the Acehnese, for the mass killings during the operation to quell
the separatist movement.

None of the security personnel who were involved in the
atrocity have been brought to trial so far.