TNI promises to investigate report on mass grave in Aceh

TNI promises to investigate report on mass grave in Aceh

Agencies, Jakarta

The Indonesian Military (TNI) said Thursday it would check
reports from the country's National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) that a mass grave had been discovered in Aceh
province.

The TNI, however, refuted the rights' commission's statement
on the presence of military-backed militia in the province.

TNI spokesman Col. Nachrowi told Agence France-Presse that the
information provided by the commission about the existence of a
mass grave near Bireuen regency needed to be closely examined to
determine its veracity.

"I think we have to coordinate with the commission," Nachrowi
said. "Then we can investigate in the field."

Whether the grave contains dead cows or humans, and who the
victims are, needs to be confirmed, he said. "We are checking the
information."

M.M. Billah from the rights' commission told AFP Wednesday
that its representatives in Aceh had received information about a
grave believed to contain dozens of bodies.

The grave is located in Nisam district close to the rebel
stronghold of Bireuen, where there has been intense military
activity during a major offensive to crush separatist rebels of
the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

GAM chief spokesman Sofyan Dawood told AFP in Jakarta there
were more than 100 bodies in the grave at Krung Tuan village.

Sofyan alleged the victims were civilians who had fled to the
forest and were then shot over a number of days by troops.
Independent confirmation of his allegations was not possible.

Meanwhile, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu asserted
that the commission was "talking nonsense" when it accused the
military of arming civilians to fight against GAM.

Aceh Military Operation Commander Brig. Gen. Bambang Darmono
said the commission's report was not valid as it was based on
statements from people living far away from the area.

Therefore, Bambang invited the commission to the regency to
conduct a field investigation into the allegation.

He claimed that the people in the regency had been arming
themselves with handmade riffles to fight against GAM as they
were tired of the suffering caused by the separatist movement.

However, Bambang said the TNI had collected these hand-made
rifles and burnt them to minimize the possibility of civilian
clashes in the area.

He called on the rights' commission to be fair, and not just
expose allegations of human rights violations committed by TNI
soldiers. The commission should also investigate rights
violations by GAM.

He questioned the commission's silence over the killing of
dozens of civilians in North Klut district in South Aceh by GAM
in early 2001.

The TNI also frequently used armed civilians to fight
separatists during its war against insurgents in the former
province of East Timor, which separated from Indonesia in 1999.

The leader of the military-backed militia in East Timor,
Eurico Gutteres, admitted that the TNI trained them to help the
effort to retain East Timor as part of Indonesia.

In its ruling, the human rights court that sentenced Eurico to
10-years in jail, also found that the TNI had armed civilians in
East Timor.