Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Aceh's separatist rebels called Friday for an international probe into the shooting of a Red Cross worker in the tsunami-hit province, saying the Indonesian military has a long history of using violence against foreigners.
Authorities immediately blamed guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement for the incident Wednesday night, when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a vehicle of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The rebels have denied any involvement.
A bullet struck Eva Yeung, a 28-year-old resident of Hong Kong, in the neck. She was evacuated to Singapore where she was reported to be in stable condition.
Yeung was the first foreigner injured in Aceh since the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the province of 4.1 million people on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
"Indonesia has already blamed us for the incident," rebel commander Muzakkir Manaf said in a statement. "But according to reports from my commanders in the area, none of our fighters were within 15 kilometers of the incident. There was also no armed clash, as Indonesia claims. However, Indonesian troops do patrol the area day and night."
The statement said the rebels have never targeted foreigners, but accused Indonesian forces of often using violence against them in Aceh and elsewhere in the country. "The (rebel) armed forces demand a full and immediate impartial investigation of the shooting," the statement said.
Two years ago, troops shot dead a German tourist while he was sleeping on a beach in Aceh. Security forces also jailed a Scottish academic and an American nurse who were helping victims of torture in the war-torn region.
Three months ago, Jakarta expelled from Aceh the UN refugee agency, which it blamed for undermining Indonesian rule in East Timor.
East Timor broke free of Indonesia – which had occupied the province for 24 years – after its people voted overwhelmingly for independence in a UN referendum in 1999. In retaliation, Indonesian troops and their proxy militias went on a rampage n which at least 1,400 people died, including three foreign aid UN workers.
"For years, we Acehnese and foreign human rights groups have called for an international investigation into the grave human rights abuses committed in our troubled homeland," Manaf's statement said. "Sadly, it has taken the tsunami to bring the world here. We Acehnese want the world to stay."
Fighting in Aceh has been going on intermittently since 1870, when Dutch colonial troops occupied the independent sultanate. The latest round of fighting began in 1976. The rebels want a UN-supervised independence referendum like the one that ended Indonesian rule in East Timor.
Immediately after the natural disaster, rebel forces announced a unilateral ceasefire, but Indonesian commanders vowed to continue prosecuting the war despite a peace process that has brought the two sides to the negotiating table in Finland. The next round of talks is scheduled for July.