Reuters in Jakarta – A leading international rights group yesterday accused Indonesia's security forces and Aceh rebels of violating human rights with impunity in an increasingly bloody conflict in the province.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said Jakarta had "utterly failed" to control the military and police operating in Aceh and called on President Megawati Sukarnoputri to quickly set up human rights courts to prosecute serious violations.
Bloodshed in resource-rich Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra Island has spiralled out of control, with more than 1,500 people, mainly civilians, killed since January in a rebellion that presents Ms Megawati with one of her most formidable challenges.
"There is no question that both sides have been responsible for unlawful killings, as well as a wide range of other abuses," said Sidney Jones, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, in a statement accompanying a report on the blighted province.
The 40-page report, "Indonesia: The War in Aceh", said the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) controlled much of the province of four million people, especially wealthy districts.
Popular support for the rebellion had grown in the past two years partly because of Jakarta's failure to respond to demands that perpetrators of violations be brought to justice, it said. And violence had intensified in recent months.
"The conflict in Aceh ... is an increasingly brutal war in which both sides have violated human rights with impunity," said the hard-hitting report that catalogued a number of abuses.
Ms Megawati last week apologised to Acehnese and the people of rebellious Irian Jaya for past abuses, but vowed the two provinces would remain part of Indonesia. The Government has offered both special autonomy to run much of their own affairs in an attempt to placate demands for independence. Security forces and rebels routinely blame each other for rights violations in Aceh – something that Human Rights Watch noted.
Neither military officials nor GAM representatives were immediately available to comment on the report. Earlier yesterday, GAM's deputy military commander said his men had not committed any rights violations.
Human Rights Watch said it was not aware of a single case this year where a soldier or policeman responsible for civilian deaths, torture or destruction of property in areas suspected of being a GAM stronghold had been punished.
There was also ample evidence that security forces deliberately and systematically employed executions to deter villagers from supporting GAM, the report said.
"The Indonesian Government has a particular responsibility to ensure that those who are supposed to uphold the law do not themselves become violators of it. In this, it has utterly failed," Mr Jones said in the statement.
The report also accused GAM of killing suspected military informers and family members of police and military personnel, of unlawful detentions, destruction of property and forced expulsions of non-Acehnese, particularly ethnic Javanese.
It added that local human rights groups faced increasing obstacles conducting field investigations from both sides. The report said while GAM had been fighting for independence for decades, it had only developed a significant popular base, a steady source of arms and a relatively well-organised command structure in the past two years.