Yogyakarta students urge an end to Aceh violence

Yogyakarta students urge an end to Aceh violence

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of students staged protests here on
Friday demanding an end to violence in Aceh, while at the same
time they raised approximately Rp 7.8 million to help refugees in
the conflict-wracked province.

From 8 a.m., students grouped in the Indonesian Muslim
Students Action Front (KAMMI), as well as another five groups
demonstrated at several strategic sites in the city. Passing
motorists threw Rp 50,000 and Rp 20,000 notes into the boxes
provided.

Activists distributed statements and pamphlets condemning the
central government's handling of Aceh, where scores of people
including military and police members, have been killed in the
past year, adding to victims in the 1989-1998 military
operations.

A banner carried by KAMMI students read: "Mr. Habibie, meet
your promises toward the Acehnese."

They were referring to President B.J. Habibie's promises made
during a one-day visit to the capital, Banda Aceh, in March.

Habibie at the time pledged justice for locals and an end to
violence in the province.

However violence has continued, and in the past few months
approximately 60,000 residents have fled their villages, saying
they fear the presence of newly arrived military members.

The military, however, has said villagers fled intimidation
and violence by separatist rebels from the Free Aceh Movement,
which led to the deployment of 1,200 soldiers to Aceh.

Activists claim the military's version of the number of troops
in the area is grossly underestimated, with thousands more
deployed in the province.

In response to rising demands that troops be withdrawn from
Aceh, the Ministry of Defense and Security stated on Friday that
security personnel were still needed to protect residents from
intensifying acts of "intimidation, provocation and brutality".

Late Friday Antara reported that two soldiers from Bireun in
North Aceh had been shot dead around 10:30 p.m. by unidentified
people.

Spokesman of the Lilawangsa command First Lt. Eddy Herianto
said the victims were second privates Waris and Firdaus, both 22.

Wearing civilian clothes, they were shot in front of a crowd
at a market in Baktia district, some 50 kilometers from
Lhokseumawe, the regency capital.

On Friday the Ministry of Defense and Security also cited
Tuesday's ambush in Matang Kuli district, North Aceh, in which
three soldiers were shot by automatic weapons. One of the
soldiers had died, the ministry said.

Antara reported on Friday that two trucks carrying several
tons of processed wood were set on fire by unidentified people in
Kota Pangwa village in Trienggadeng district, Pidie, early
Thursday. The fires were only extinguished at 3 p.m.

In a seminar on violence, held in Aceh on Thursday, locals
cited witnesses as saying some incidents involved military
members.

Speakers at the seminar included sociologist Otto Syamsudin
Ishak and coordinator of the Independent Commission for Missing
Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Munir.

Otto charged that the military benefited from promotions and
material profits from their assignments in Aceh.
Munir said the fact that decisions about Aceh were made by the
military instead of, for instance, the Ministry of Home Affairs,
had created the current perception of the conflict as being one
involving Acehnese against the military.

Antara on Friday reported further demands to withdraw troops
from the province. The chairman of a community development
foundation Yadesa, Abdul Gani Nurdin, said he had only recently
returned from refugee centers in Pidie and North Aceh.

"Refugee's belongings left in their empty homes have been
stolen and they cannot harvest their crops," he said, adding
refugees said they were fleeing the military.(23/anr)