DATE=4/18/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA / ACEH / L-O
NUMBER=2-261454
BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN
DATELINE=JAKARTA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A police chief who headed the crackdown on
separatist rebels in the northern province of
Aceh, has been removed from his post for alleged
human rights violations. As Patricia Nunan
reports from Jakarta, the move comes days ahead
of the opening of a human rights trial in Aceh of
members of the Indonesian military, accused of
massacring more than 50 civilians last year.
TEXT: Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid
issued a presidential decree to remove Colonel
Yusuf Muharram from his post as head of a
military and police operation against separatist
rebels. President Wahid said Colonel Muharram has
allegedly committed atrocities in Aceh, including
the burning of people, homes and schools.
Authorities say Colonel Muharram has been pulled
back to Jakarta, and that the charges against him
will be further investigated.
Colonel Muharram was involved in the
implementation of Rencong -- or "dagger" III -- a
counterinsurgency plan launched by the Armed
Forces and police in February of this year. The
plan allowed authorities to use repressive
measures against guerrillas from the "Free Aceh
Movement."
Rebels from the "Free Aceh Movement" have been
fighting for independence for Aceh province since
the 1970's. But they stepped up their efforts
after the Indonesian government decided to let
East Timor go, after 24 years of fighting a
guerrilla resistance movement there.
Analysts say the military's repressive measures
against Aceh's separatists have done more to fuel
support for the rebellion than to crush it.
The international human rights group Amnesty
International says that up to 200 people may have
been killed so far this year as a result of the
"Rencong III" plan.
Officials with the International Committee of the
Red Cross also say the security situation in Aceh
remains tenuous -- despite assertions by
President Wahid that the situation is improving.
The decision to remove the police chief comes
just before Wednesday's opening of a trial
against 24 Indonesian soldiers accused of killing
65 people last July.
The high-profile "Bantaqiah" trial is named for
an Islamic teacher, Teungku Bantaqiah, who along
with dozens of his students were alleged to have
been killed by the soldiers when they opened fire
at an Islamic boarding school in the town of
Beutong.
The military however says the deaths were the
result of a gun battle between soldiers and
guerrilla rebels.
President Wahid has made ending separatist unrest
across Indonesia a focal point of his
administration since taking office last October.
The Bantaqiah trial is seen by many as a test of
the government's resolve in its on-going test of
wills with Indonesia's politically-powerful
military.
NEB/PN/FC
18-Apr-2000 10:14 AM EDT (18-Apr-2000 1414 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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