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In response to rising demands that troops be withdrawn from Aceh, the Ministry of Defense and Security stated on Friday that security personnel were still needed to protect residents from intensifying acts of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