Precedence: bulk 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.*** ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html
