Precedence: bulk 70,000 FLEE ARMY OPERATIONS DURING ELECTION Banda Aceh, June 10, 1999 SENTRAL INFORMASI REFERENDUM ACEH (SIRA) Human rights abuses by the Indonesian Government and the Indonesian armed forces have been continuing during the general election; this tradition and culture has been constantly on the increase. The Indonesian armed forces have been going into villages and intimidating the people to take part in the election. The Acehnese people are not interested in this because of their attitude towards Indonesia. They only want to be independent via a referendum because a referendum can give them the opportunity to say whether they want to remain integrated with Indonesia or separate from Indonesia, a country with one of the worst traditions and culture in democracy and human rights. In the regions of Pidie and North Aceh, the people have been fleeing their villages because of the fear of military action. The strong reality is that there is a tremendous trauma among people whenever they meet or see soldiers. Based on the findings of our team which has made investigations in the field, the refugees are now concentrated in Meurudu, Ulim and Bandar Dua Pidie. Besides that, in North Aceh the people in sensitive places are concentrated in Krueng Mane, Peudada and Samalanga. The number of refugees is now 70. 000 people. Yet the armed forces still carry out military operations all the time. The tense situation has deeply traumatised the refugees and other people want to flee from their villagees as well We hope that international bodies will now pay attention to Aceh. The Acehnese people are part of world humanity and want to live peacefully and in democracy. The problems in Aceh which were caused by the Government and the military during the past ten years are not just a local or national issue, but also a global, international. e mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign 111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8HW, UK Phone: 0181 771-2904 Fax: 0181 653-0322 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Internet: www.gn.apc.org/tapol Campaigning to expose human rights violations in Indonesia, East Timor, West Papua and Aceh 25 years - and still going strong ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ---------- SiaR WEBSITE: http://apchr.murdoch.edu.au/minihub/siarlist/maillist.html
