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WAHID STATEMENT ON ACEH

Date Reported: Tuesday, February 08, 2000
Incident Type: SECURITY
Country: BANDA ACEH, INDONESIA

Incident: The U.S. Embassy in Jakarta reported that Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid (aka Gus Dur) during his travels in Berne, Switzerland, released the following statement regarding the situation in Aceh:

(Begin Text) The government of the Republic of Indonesia is committed to alleviate any further suffering of the people in Aceh. To this end, the government has decided from 1st February 2000 [to begin] a six-month period during which the government will concretely address humanitarian and human rights problems in Aceh.

For that purpose, a joint forum will be established for all interested parties to identify and exchange information on humanitarian issues and to assess priority needs, and how they may be urgently addressed.

To make this effective, the government firmly rejects to use (sic) violence by all parties which is causing further suffering and increasing humanitarian needs.

The government is also committed to dialogue as the best way to settle differences and to avert further human suffering.

The government believes that direct parties involved in the conflict situation in Aceh will duly reciprocate the government's good intent and equally commit themselves towards finding a final and peaceful solution. (End Text)

The Indonesian media has not carried the statement nor made any reference to it, except for Kompas, which quoted Pres. Wahid's comments on a joint forum.

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(RISC Comment: The province of Aceh in northern Sumatra is now the venue for a small but well-established insurgency by the Aceh Merdeka Movement [AMM] against the government. AMM seeks the independence of Aceh as an independent polity, as it was in the 16th century.

The Indonesian military and police, seemingly proceeding without hard intelligence on the insurgents, conducts random cordon and sweep operations against villages suspected of harboring AMM guerrillas. In these operations, dwellings and other structures, such as village meeting halls and rice barns, are burnt down. Young men, suspected of being AMM members, are taken away and frequently never seen again.

AMM insurgents, for their part, attack soft targets. They initiate ambushes or attacks by fire against small military/police convoys; they throw grenades at isolated military/police stations/command posts; they establish road blocks at which they stop buses, pull off passengers, destroy the vehicles, and shoot on the spot, or abduct and later murder, off-duty soldiers and policemen who were on the buses, or who otherwise fall into their hands.

During the month of January 2000, the insurgency in Aceh killed 27 innocent civilians and wounded 91, while 12 went missing and remain unheard from. During the same period, 22 military and police personnel were killed and 37 wounded; while 16 AMM insurgents were killed.)