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'Achenese civil society is suffering a mounting death toll because of the increasingly bitter conflict, IFA fears that the killing of Teungku Abdullah Syafi'ie will lead to an intensification of operations.' |
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 FA has been working hard for the reconvening of the peace dialogues between the warring parties. In this framework, we conducted the Acheh Brotherly Dialogue in Washington recently, in which representatives from both sides and delegates representing a wide range of the Achenese society were present and agreed to form a Task Force in order to look into all opportunities for the re-establishment of peace in Acheh.
The killing of the much loved Teungku Abdullah Syafi'ie together with his pregnant wife, Aisyah Umar, and five personal bodyguards during an armed assault by a unit of twenty Kostrad troops from infantry battalion 330 (Siliwangi/West Java) in Sarah Panjang, Jiem-Jiem, Bandar Baru, Pidie district cannot but aggravate the situation of the conflict. These troops function under the special army command, Kolakops, which was set up following the introduction in April 2001 of presidential instruction IV/2001 by former President Abdurrahman Wahid and renewed six months later by President Megawati Sukarnoputri. In our previous statements, we have already voiced our strong opposition to any attempt to solve the conflict in Acheh by military means, especially by the introduction of non-organic troops.
At a time when Achenese civil society is suffering a mounting death toll because of the increasingly bitter conflict, IFA fears that the killing of Teungku Abdullah Syafi'ie will lead to an intensification of operations on both sides and a further deterioration in the level of security for the Achenese people as a whole, especially the innocent civilians.
We thus would like tike to take this opportunity to call on the international community to do everything possible to urge the Indonesian authorities to halt the military operations so as to make it possible for talks to resume. It should also call on GAM to show restraint, following the death of their commander.
This statement signed by Suraiya IT, Chairperson of the International Forum for Acheh (IFA). IFA is an Achenese non-profit organization based in New York, dedicated for the re-establishment of peace and justice in Acheh. eMail: ifa@aceh.org; Web: http://.aceh.org/ifa; Communications Director: djuli@pc.jaring.my; Australian Contact Person: Lesley.McCulloch@utas.edu.au; Tel: (03) 6226 2343.
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