Aceh deputy governor: Killings not political

Mar 24, 2009, 3:52 GMT

   Banda Aceh, Indonesia - Recent killings of former rebels-turned-politicians in Indonesia's Aceh province were not politically motivated, the province's deputy governor said Tuesday.

   Four members of the Aceh Party, the political wing of the former separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), have been killed in the past two months by unknown assailants, sparking fears of further violence ahead of the April 9 general elections.

   The Aceh Party is one of six local parties allowed to contest for provincial legislative seats under a 2005 peace pact between the government and GAM, which ended decades of conflict in the province.

   Aceh Deputy Governor Muhammad Nazar, a former independence supporter, said he agreed with police assertions that the killings were not linked to politics.

   'The events in recent months were purely criminal acts according to police, so we don't see them as a big threat to peace,' Nazar told the German Press Agency dpa.

   He urged police to thoroughly investigate the murders and a series of grenade attacks targeting Aceh Party offices since last year.

   'We are optimistic that peace will prevail. All parties concerned are committed to it,' said Nazar, who leads the Aceh People's Independent Voice Party.

   In the latest incident, a member of the Aceh Party was found floating in a waste pool on Friday, with his throat slit and hands bound, local media reported.

   A new report by the World Bank's Conflict and Development Program said 16 people were killed, 47 were injured and 17 buildings or vehicles were damaged in violence in a three-month period to the end of February.

   'These incidents brought tensions, in particular between the Aceh Party and security forces to unprecedented levels since [the peace pact],' the report said.

   However, the report said it remained unclear whether the violence was politically motivated.

   Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf is a former separatist guerilla who won the gubernatorial election in 2006, two years after the Indian Ocean tsunami devastated Aceh province.

   The International Crisis Group think tank said in a report released Monday that the crux of the problem was 'the mutual fear and loathing' between GAM and the Indonesian military.

Many in the military are convinced that GAM is still committed to an independent Aceh and has only changed its tactics, the report said.

   Former rebels, on the other hand, see the military as its main opponent, and encourages the perception that all attacks on its members or offices are somehow linked to the military, the report said.

   The Crisis Group said many attacks over the past three years had been the result of internal conflict among former rebels.

   The military has been accused of gross human rights violations during the conflict in the province.