Aceh separatist rebels have accused Indonesian security forces of condoning a militia attack on the office of a peace monitoring team in hopes of wrecking a ceasefire in the province.
Two monitors – one from the Indonesian military and one from the rebel side – were injured when a mob attacked the office of the Joint Security Committee (JSC) overseeing the truce in the Central Aceh town of Takengon on Monday. The mob also vandalized the office, torched two cars and damaged another.
"The peace agreement has once again been sullied by the actions of thousands of Javanese militia members who had been mobilized by certain parties not wanting peace in Aceh..." said a statement by Sofyan Dawod, military spokesman for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Dawod said the attack on the building and the peace monitors "appeared to be well organized and the Indonesian security authorities did not take any action whatsoever." He said the incident began at 9am and lasted until 4pm. "It is impossible that the intelligence of the Republic of Indonesia had no advance knowledge of this." Dawod said the Indonesian delegation had from the start objected to a JSC presence in Central Aceh on the grounds there was no conflict there.
But he said the real reason for the objection was to cover up the presence of the militia, made up of migrants from Indonesia's main island of Java.
"This incident was clearly the work of migrants from Java, many of whom have become armed militias. It is these same militias who have forced people to take part in the action by threatening those who object with the torching of their homes," Dawod said.
He said all three rebel representatives at the office were injured. Only one was seen being taken to Banda Aceh for medical treatment.
Aceh military spokesman Firdaus Komarno said Monday the protest resulted from locals' frustration with the JSC over its failure to act promptly on reports of extortion by rebels.
A peace deal mediated by the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Centre went into force in the province on December 9.