Banda Aceh – A leading supporter of independence for Aceh walked out of his trial Wednesday when it refused to call Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid or his representative as a witness.
Muhammad Nazar, chairman of the Information Centre for a Referendum in Aceh (SIRA), walked out of the Banda Aceh district court in protest with his defence lawyers.
Banda Aceh – The judges of the Banda Aceh District Court ruled on Monday that the court could continue to try Acehnese independence activist Muhammad Nazar, ruling that the court had legal grounds on which to proceed. "The case will go ahead as there are sufficient legal grounds to justify this," presiding judge Farida Hanoem said during the second session of the trial.
Jakarta – Indonesian authorities are planning to launch "limited security operations" against separatist rebels in the troubled province of Aceh, Defence Minister Muhammad Mahfud said Tuesday.
Statements by top Indonesian Military (TNI) officers last week signaled mounting pressure on President Abdurrahman Wahid to take a harder line against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), with which he has been negotiating for a peaceful solution to the Aceh problem.
Jakarta – Exxon Mobil Indonesia's decision to halt oil and gas production in the troubled Aceh province has forced other major companies in the area to shut down too.
PT Arun LNG Co, a major exporter of liquefied natural gas to Japan and South Korea, officially stopped operations on Saturday, the Serambi daily said.
Banda Aceh – The trial of an Acehnese independence activist charged with revolt opened at the Banda Aceh District Court on Thursday amid a tight security cordon and a silent protest.
Dan Murphy, Lhokseumawe – The Aceh coffee is thick and sweet, the grounds sticking to the teeth the way they like it here, as a tense group sips and talks in the thatched shade of a cafe across from an ExxonMobil pump station.
Banda Aceh – At least seven people were killed and scores of others injured during a fresh outbreak of violence in Aceh between Sunday and Monday, officials and witnesses reported on Tuesday.
Five bodies bearing bullet wounds and lacerations were found in East Aceh on Monday during the celebration of Idul Adha in the predominantly-Muslim province.
Banda Aceh – Seven people were killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, three of them when government troops retook a town held for 14 hours by rebels, police and residents said Saturday.
Two fishermen and an unidentified man were killed, apparently in the crossfire, when the troops retook Idi Rayeuk, a town of some 15,000 people in East Aceh on Friday.
Jakarta – Five judges have been appointed to the trial of Central Information for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar in the Banda Aceh District Court, which will begin on Thursday, Antara reported.
Peace agreements come and go but on the ground nothing ever changes in Aceh. The death toll has continued to rise, even following a mid-January accord for a one-month moratorium on violence. Volunteers working for a group to assist victims of torture were murdered in cold blood, in a deliberate move to curb the activities of human rights defenders.
Banda Aceh – Violence has again escalated in Aceh with at least 11 people being killed in various incidents on Wednesday, while talks continue between government representatives and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels regarding security arrangements.
The closed-door meeting took place at Kuala Tripa Hotel here discussing details about the security arrangements.
Jakarta – An official said on Friday that the long awaited trial of proindependence activist Muhammad Nazar would be transferred to Banda Aceh rescinding a previous decision to try the case in a neutral area, Medan, North Sumatra.
Banda Aceh – Violence continued in Aceh as Indonesian Police and Military officers held talks with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Thursday and Friday, officials said. As of Friday afternoon, no immediate results had been revealed.
Jakarta – A member of the Indonesian Military/National Police faction in the Aceh provincial council said rogue forces in the province had exacerbated tensions between security forces and separatist rebels.
Banda Aceh – At least two people were killed and 10 others were wounded in the latest violence to hit the troubled Aceh province despite a new peace deal, police and rebels said Tuesday.
Vaudine England, Jakarta – The renewal of a ceasefire between secessionist rebels and the Government in Aceh was greeted by more violence, but human rights activists say the peace pact reached in Geneva last week is still better than nothing.
Geneva – Indonesian officials and rebel leaders from Aceh have agreed to extend their ceasefire indefinitely and to hold broad political dialogue to end the conflict in the separatist province.
Banda Aceh – Resolute rebel group Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has threatened to create trouble nationwide if the joint police and military operation to restore order in the province continues.
Geneva – Indonesian government representatives and separatist Aceh rebels agreed Friday a security pact to replace the current ceasefire in the troubled province, sources close to the talks said.
Banda Aceh – The trial of Central Information for Aceh Referendum (SIRA) chief Muhammad Nazar remains up in the air after the government brushed off a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday that the trial venue be moved from Sabang, Aceh to Medan, North Sumatra.
Jakarta – Tensions in Aceh remain as three more civilians were shot during military and police operations against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in East Aceh and Aceh Besar on Monday, a volunteer said on Tuesday.
Banda Aceh – Government representatives and rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) commanders reached an agreement here on Saturday on ways to reduce the violence in strife-torn Aceh.
Banda Aceh – Seven people were killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, police and residents said Monday, as government and separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) representatives headed for a fresh round of talks in Switzerland.
Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels on Friday shot dead an Acehnese army trooper and wounded 13 others in a pre-dawn ambush on the village prayer house where they were resting in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, military sources said.
Banda Aceh – The dossier on the detained chief of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA), Muhammad Nazar, has been handed over to the court in Medan to be processed for trial, an official said on Monday.
"The dossier was received on Friday," an official at the court was quoted by Antara as saying. The date of Nazar's trial, however, has not been set.
From behind the bars of his prison cell, as he awaits his trial for anti-state activities, mild-mannered Aceh independence activist Muhammad Nazar is still a man Jakarta fears.
Banda Aceh – Detained chief of the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) Muhammad Nazar rejected on Wednesday the proposal to move the trial against him to Medan, capital of neighboring North Sumatra province. The activist insisted that the case be tried in Aceh.
Jakarta – New fighting in Indonesia's restive Aceh province has killed at least four people, police said Saturday.
Banda Aceh – Detained chief of Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) Muhammad Nazar demanded on Friday that the case against him be brought to court "to reveal the truth behind all the conflict in Aceh".
Banda Aceh – At least four people, including two soldiers, were killed in the latest violence to hit the Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and local residents said Thursday.
The two soldiers were shot dead in a rebel ambush in Juli Keude Dua, Bireun district, on Wednesday, said the head of their army battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Erda Bachtiar.
Chris McCall, Meulaboh – He races as fast as he can in his battered minibus, but screeches to a halt for the men with big guns. Roads in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh are nowhere to linger without reason.
Banda Aceh – The Indonesian government and separatist rebels in Aceh have agreed to work together to implement a one-month truce in the violence-wracked province, a joint statement obtained yesterday said.
Banda Aceh – The implementation of law in Aceh has almost come to a halt as many judges have fled the province because of security concerns.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) is demanding 30 million rupiah (S$5,700) for each firearm they give up. Defence Minister Muhammad Mahfud said this condition had stopped the process of disarmament.
Jakarta – South Aceh Police found a mass grave with 14 bodies, three of which were suspected to be those of the missing researchers from the Bandung-based Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), in Tebangan village, South Kluet district, an officer said on Wednesday.
Jakarta – While expressing support for a united territory of Indonesia, United States Ambassador to Indonesia Robert S. Gelbard offered on Wednesday to help ensure the agreement between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and Indonesian government a success.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – While President Abdurrahman Wahid gave his backing for another ceasefire between Acehnese rebels and the government, analysts said the bloodshed over the past few days indicated that neither side was prepared to take the truce seriously.
Pip Hinman – Acehnese activist Kautsar has been struggling for his people's right to self-determination for some years. In 1998, he helped to form Student Solidarity with the People (SMUR), the main Acehenese student-led popular movement for independence.
Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – "Let our people go quickly or Indonesia will suffer the same fate as Yugoslavia." That was the dire warning from separatist rebels, as the Indonesian province of Aceh began a new truce yesterday.
Reuters in Jakarta – Three people have been killed and four wounded in a fresh bout of violence in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, showing the futility of a recently agreed ceasefire extension.
Police say a total of eight people have been killed since the truce was announced on Wednesday while rebel leaders put the figure as high as 30.
Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – The controversial trial of Aceh's top civilian independence activist is expected to start in the course of a new one-month truce with separatist rebels, his colleagues say.
Chris McCall, Banda Aceh – Behind Banda Aceh's landmark Baiturrahman mosque, a street vendor was scratching a living as he does every day, mashing up sugar cane for drinks.
"Is there a new agreement? We don't know about politics," he said when told of a one-month "moratorium on violence" signed on Wednesday by Acehnese rebels and the Indonesian Government in Switzerland.
Banda Aceh – At least six people, including a soldier on guard at an Exxon-Mobil oil company complex were killed, and eight others injured in renewed violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, police and hospitals said Friday.
Banda Aceh – Student groups in Indonesia's Aceh province Tuesday called for a full ceasefire between the government and separatist rebels as violence in the region claimed another life.
They said a truce between Jakarta and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that took effect in June and is due to expire on January 15 has failed to reduce violence in the province.
Jakarta – Make or break talks on Aceh will commence in Davos, Switzerland, on Saturday with Indonesian government negotiators likely to make one final offer to Free Aceh Movement (GAM) representatives for special autonomy in the province.
Banda Aceh – Separatist violence flared in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, leaving 11 people dead, police and witnesses said Saturday. Friday's deaths – nine civilians, one police officer and a separatist rebel – bring to 24 the number killed this year.
Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province said Wednesday they had warned Mobil Oil Indonesia, a subsidiary of US-based Exxon Mobil, to leave the region for its own safety.
Sidney Jones – Many knew Jafar as a political science student at New School University, New York. Others knew him as a leader of the very close Acehnese community in Woodside, Queens, where he'd lived since 1996. Some New Yorkers may have known him as one of the least aggressive taxi drivers this city has ever produced.
Banda Aceh – At least 17 people have been killed during the Muslim Eid Al-Fitr holiday in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh, police and human rights workers said Sunday.
The continuing violence bodes ill for upcoming peace talks between the government and leaders of the separatist Free Aceh Movement. They are tentatively scheduled to take place January 5 in Geneva.