[Excerpt from report by Indonesian Detikcom web site on 30 May.]

New York – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed his deep concern about the civilian victims of violence in Aceh. Furthermore, Annan has received reports of extra judicial killings and the burning of hundreds of schools. This was announced by a spokesman for Kofi Annan in UN Headquarters in New York today (Friday 30 May) Indonesian time.

"The secretary-general is reminding all sides involved in this armed conflict of their obligation to provide protection for the civilian population," said the spokesman. In his statement, Annan also called on the Indonesian government to make sure that security conditions were sufficient to allow the international aid agencies to have safe and unrestricted access to the people in the community who were being hit by the impact of the fighting.

Indonesia's permanent representative in the UN, Ambassador Slamet Hidayat, expressed his disappointment over the Annan statement. Slamet said that Annan's statement could lead the international community to believe that people were being murdered in Aceh.

"Although he is not making accusations, his statement could lead the international community to believe that there were civilians being murdered.

In fact, as has been said by the TNI Indonesian National Military Forces, there has been one such instance and it was now under investigation," Slamet told Detikcom.

Slamet said therefore that he would be asking the UN secretariat to immediately clarify the background to the statement. He wanted to know the basis and source of the report. "Just maybe the source was foreign media outlets who had reported stories of killings which were based on no firm evidence," he suggested."