Associated Press, Monday March 3, 2003 11:44 PM ET
Rebels blame army for attack on Aceh peace monitors
By MUHARRAM M. NUR, Associated Press Writer
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - Separatist rebels on Tuesday accused the Indonesian
military of trying to derail the peace process in Aceh province by inciting a militia
attack on international monitors overseeing the accord.
The military, which has in the past used militia groups against insurgents in Aceh,
East Timor, the Maluku islands and Papua province, denied the allegations.
On Monday, a mob of mostly non-Acehnese villagers torched three vehicles and
ransacked an office in central Aceh belonging to the Henri Dunant Center for
Humanitarian Dialogue. The center brokered the Dec. 9 peace deal between the
government and separatist rebels. Two Indonesians working for the organization were
slightly injured.
The military claimed the villagers became violent after the monitors allegedly failed to
act on their complaints accusing the rebels of extortion.
"This incident was the work of militias trained by the Indonesian military," rebel
spokesman Sofyan Dawood said. "Their aim is to expel international monitors from
central Aceh so no one can see what the military is doing."
Insurgents began fighting in 1976 for an independent state in oil-and-gas rich Aceh,
1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) northwest of Jakarta. About 12,000 people have died in
the past decade.
The peace deal has resulted in a sharp drop in violence. But several key issues,
including rebel disarmament, have yet to be resolved.
About 50 international monitors are based in Aceh, most of them from Thailand and
the Philippines. Monday's incident was the first time they have been threatened.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Firdaus Komarno denied any military involvement in
Monday's attack.
"The rebels can accuse all they want," he said. "We had nothing to do with it. It was a
spontaneous and genuine reaction to extortion by the rebels," he said.
Extortion and banditry by both rebel and military soldiers is rife in Aceh despite the
peace deal. Commanders unwilling to give up the lucrative opportunities provided by
continued conflict are one of the main threats to the peace process.
The Geneva-based Henri Dunant Center declined to comment on the rebels'
allegations, but said it had no plans to pull its monitors out of central Aceh as a result
of the attack.
The Indonesian army has a long history of using proxies — such as militia groups or
rioters — against international organizations and human rights groups.
Several U.N. workers were injured or killed during the bloodshed that followed the
1999 independence referendum that ended Indonesian rule in East Timor.
In September 2000, a pro-Indonesian mob attacked a U.N. office in the town of
Atambua on Indonesian-held West Timor, killing three foreign staffers, including a
U.S. aid worker. It was the deadliest attack on civilian U.N. staff in the organization's
history.
Copyright © 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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