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US groups urge Powell to pressure Jakarta to end Aceh war
Jakarta, June 17: US-based rights organisations have urged US Secretary of State Colin Powell to pressure Indonesia to end its major assault on separatist rebels in Aceh province.
Jakarta, June 17: US-based rights organisations have urged US Secretary of State Colin Powell to pressure Indonesia to end its major assault on separatist rebels in Aceh province.
Groups including the Indonesia Human Rights Network and East Timor Action Network, in a statement today said Powell should raise the issue with Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda at the meeting of the Asean Regional Forum in Phnom Penh tomorrow.
They said it was appropriate to link US military and other cooperation with Jakarta to "a prompt end to the military's human rights abuses and crackdown on civil society in Aceh".
In a letter to Powell, the groups said cooperation should also be linked to Jakarta's guarantee that it will allow relief organisations, human rights groups and journalists to function freely in the province.
It said the military is using US weapons including OV10-Broncos, F-16s and Hercules C-130 aircraft in Aceh.
"We urge you to alert Indonesian authorities that US-supplied weapons must not be used to attack civilians," the groups said in the letter.
Indonesia says it is using the aircraft to drop "sonic bombs" and not high explosives. It put Aceh under martial law and launched the operation on May 19.
The US rights groups accuse the military of "indiscriminate attacks that have already inflicted many civilian casualties". The Army says it is trying to minimise civilian casualties.
Bureau Report
They said it was appropriate to link US military and other cooperation with Jakarta to "a prompt end to the military's human rights abuses and crackdown on civil society in Aceh".
In a letter to Powell, the groups said cooperation should also be linked to Jakarta's guarantee that it will allow relief organisations, human rights groups and journalists to function freely in the province.
It said the military is using US weapons including OV10-Broncos, F-16s and Hercules C-130 aircraft in Aceh.
"We urge you to alert Indonesian authorities that US-supplied weapons must not be used to attack civilians," the groups said in the letter.
Indonesia says it is using the aircraft to drop "sonic bombs" and not high explosives. It put Aceh under martial law and launched the operation on May 19.
The US rights groups accuse the military of "indiscriminate attacks that have already inflicted many civilian casualties". The Army says it is trying to minimise civilian casualties.
Bureau Report