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.