Jakarta – Protests greeted a visit Saturday to the restive Aceh province by a delegation of Indonesian ministers and senior officials bringing aid for refugees fleeing violence between troops and Moslem rebels.
In the latest attack, four gunmen shot dead a soldier in Pidie district on Friday.
The seven ministers were scheduled to hand over finance for several development projects in Aceh as well as aid for the province's growing number of refugees, said an Aceh government spokesman, Wid.
"They will also hold dialogue with public and religious leaders and district and provincial officials at the governor's office" in the local capital Banda Aceh, Wid added.
He said the team was discussing how to improve the central government's efforts to boost security and living standards in Aceh, an Islamic stronghold where harsh anti-rebel operations by the military have caused deep resentment.
The delegation was headed by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Haryono Suyono and included 16 senior officials, Wid said. But the aid pledge failed to impress some 300 protestors, mostly students, who demonstrated at the parliament building more than a kilometre from the governor's office.
They demanded that the military face justice for innocent victims of the anti-separatist campaign. Many of the protestors wore headbands carrying the word "Referendum" as they demanded self-determination in line with that being offered to East Timor, television pictures showed.
Activist Shalahuddin Alfata said the ministers' visit would have little impact since they were not meeting any members of the banned GAM.
"The GAM is not being involved in the dialogue. Even though we do not recognize them as an organisation, in reality they are there," said Alfata, chairman of the Aceh People's Forum for Struggle and Justice.
He told the SCTV television station the government needed to talk to the GAM to halt the violence before moving onto other issues, and called for outside mediation.
"If the government of Indonesia is serious in trying to resolve the problems in Aceh openly and transparently, then invite the United States as a mediator," he said. The US should be involved because it had sizeable investments in gas-rich Aceh, he added.
This is the second visit by a group of ministers to Aceh since President B.J. Habibie came to Banda Aceh for a day in May and pledged to investigate military abuses and improve social conditions. Amran Zamzani, who heads the independent investigation promised by Habibie, said Friday nobody should interfere in its probe into military violence against Acehnese.
"We do not want to be like other teams. If we're not going to be of any use, then it would be better if we just disbanded ourselves," Amran said.