DATE=6/2/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ACEH LEADER ASSASSINATION (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263077
BYLINE=RON CORBEN
DATELINE=BANGKOK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A key separatist leader from Indonesia's
troubled Aceh province has been gunned down in a
gangland style murder at a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur.
Ron Corben reports from VOA's Southeast Asia Bureau
the murder came just hours before a ceasefire in the
province was due to begin Friday.
TEXT: Acehnese separatist leader, Teuku Don Zulfahri,
was murdered at a restaurant in suburban Kuala Lumpur
in the mid-afternoon Thursday.
Mr. Zulfahri, was a leader of a Malaysian based
faction of the Free Aceh Movement which had broken
away from the leadership of Hasan Tiro, who now lives
in exile in Sweden.
Diplomatic sources say Kuala Lumpur is home to a large
number of Acehnese, many working as laborers and in
other employment, but who also actively financially
support the Free Aceh Movement.
The Movement has been fighting for the resource rich
province's independence from Indonesia, whose military
has brutally suppressed the movement over more than
two decades.
While Mr. Zulfahri was reportedly a moderate within
the Free Aceh Movement, he had also spoken out against
a May 12th peace deal between Jakarta and the
separatist Aceh rebels.
The deal, signed in Geneva, establishes a three month
ceasefire in the northwestern province at the tip of
Sumatra. The truce began at midnight Thursday.
Mr. Zulfahri had said recently one should never hope
for a peaceful Indonesia as long as Aceh was part of
it. That, he added, would never happen
while he was still alive.
One diplomat said the killing may have been linked to
rivalries between groups living in Kuala Lumpur. A
friend of Mr. Zulfahri's was reported as saying the
motive for the separatist leader's killing appeared to
be politics.
In a gangland-style slaying, the killers reportedly
entered the restaurant wearing motorcycle helmets and
shot Mr. Zulfahri three times before escaping.
(Signed)
NEB/RC/FC/PLM
02-Jun-2000 05:05 AM EDT (02-Jun-2000 0905 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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