Wiranto to visit Aceh to discuss rights violations

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander (ABRI) Gen. Wiranto is scheduled to visit Aceh today to hold talks with local authorities and human rights activists over alleged human rights violations there, an activist said yesterday.

Abdul Rahman Yacob, director of the Aceh Legal Aid Institute, told The Jakarta Post by telephone that Wiranto would hold talks in Lhokseumawe, some 268 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

"He is scheduled to arrive in Lhokseumawe at 9 a.m. (today) for a one-day visit," said Abdul, who was also invited to meet Wiranto.

Abdul said Aceh Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud, chief of the Lilawangsa Military Command Col. Dasiri Muswar, leaders of the provincial legislature and Abdul Gani Nurdin of the Aceh Non- Governmental Organizations Forum were also scheduled to attend the meeting.

"We will talk about various problems in Aceh, including the reports of disappearances," Abdul said.

A staff member at the Lilawangsa military district confirmed the visit and said his chief, Col. Dasiri Maswar, was out accompanying Bukit Barisan Regional Military Command chief Maj. Gen. Ismed Yuzeiri in final preparations to receive Wiranto.

Several publications have reported human rights violations allegedly committed by military units, including the Army's Special Force (Kopassus), in Aceh during the early 1990s. Reported atrocities include abductions, rapes, torture and extra- judicial killings.

M. Taufik Abda of the Aceh Students for Reform (KARMA) told the Post here yesterday that most of the alleged human rights violations took place in North Aceh, East Aceh and Pidie -- areas under the supervision of the Lilawangsa Military Command.

"We have only dared to speak out about the rampant human rights abuses in Aceh since the fall of Soeharto in May," Taufik said.

Protests

Soeharto stepped down amid mounting protests over his rule and the country's worst economic crisis in decades.

Taufik has been in Jakarta with 23 students from several Aceh universities since last month to report alleged human rights violations to the National Commission on Human Rights and a number of non-governmental organizations.

A member of the rights body, Clementino dos Reis Amaral, told the Post on Wednesday that the commission would send a four- member team to the westernmost province later this month.

Munir of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said its newly established Aceh office had been overwhelmed by reports of alleged human rights abuses during recent weeks.

ABRI stepped up security operations in the province during the early 1990s in response to increased activity by various armed organizations -- collectively termed as security disturbance groups (GPK) by the military -- struggling for an independent Aceh.

Syamsuddin wrote to President B.J. Habibie last week asking him to withdraw the military's combat troops from the province and to lift Aceh's military operations status.

Deputy House Speaker Hari Sabarno, who led a recent House fact-finding mission to the province, has admitted that the military was guilty of human rights violations in the area during 1990 and 1991. (byg)