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SEVEN MILITARY PERSONNEL MURDERED IN ACEH

BANDA ACEH (MeunaSAH, 30 Dec. 98).  As many as seven Indonesian Armed
Forces personnel from the 113th Infranty Unit, Bireun, were murdered by
around 200 people armed with sharp weapons in the village of Lhok Nibung
(near Langsa), Simpang Lima district, in the regency of East Aceh, Tuesday
(29 Dec) morning, at around 10:00 local time.

As this writing goes to press, the bodies of the dead soldiers have yet to
be found, despite the fact that the Armed Forces deployed 100 men from the
111th Infantry Unit, Medan, to hunt down the perpetrators and to recover
the bodies of their slain colleagues, according to a SiaR correspondent in
Banda Aceh.

The incident began when hundreds of people ambushed a bus on its way
through the village of Lhok Nibung.  The "unidentified" crowd checked the
identities of each of the passengers on the bus to see whether there were
any Armed Forces troops aboard.  Unfortunately, the seven soldiers were
taken by the masses while an eighth soldier managed to escape the wrath of
the crowd.

In response to the incident, the Armed Forces headquarters issued a press
release stating that the seven soldiers were killed during torture by the
masses.  However, the bodies have not been found.  That night Armed Forces
personnel detained scores of local residents considered to have some
knowledge of the incident.

A local leader contacted by SiaR denied that the crowds were residents of
Lhok Nibung.  He maintained that on the basis of information from Lhok
Nibung villagers, the hundreds of people were not local residents and their
identities and origins were unknown.  He suspected some form of
manipulation behind the murders.

"If it is true, where are the bodies? Why should (the crowds) take away the
bodies?" he asked.

Indeed, following the incident, the Commander of the 001 military
region/Lilawangsa, Col. (Inf.) Johny Wahab emphasized to local reporters
that the situation in Aceh remains unstable and the presence of military
troops is still needed to keep the peace in Aceh.

Meanwhile, a teaching staff at the Syah Kuala University said that even if
the perpetrators are Acehnese civilians, the incident should be seen as an
expression of their anger and frustration with the attitude displayed by
the government, which has never showed a clear stance vis a vis violations
of human rights and the law as a result of Aceh's status (recently revoked,
trans) as a Military Operations Area (DOM).  "They have crossed the
threshold of patience. Because of the DOM, there are 3000 orphans in Aceh,"
s/he said.

At almost the same time, in Jakarta, a group of Acehnese people from Taman
Iskandar Muda (TIM) once again demanded that President B.J. Habibie keep
his promise to resolve the DOM-related problems in Aceh through legal
channels in addition to reparation, restitution and compensation for all
victims of human rights violations during Aceh's status as Military
Operations Area.***

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