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Thousands of People Flee to Forests in Central Aceh, Indonesia
Thousands of people in Central Aceh, Indonesia, have left their homes and fled to the forest following outbreaks of violence in the regency over the past week, the Jakarta Post reported Saturday.
Around 300 of them arrived in Matangkulu subdistrict, North Aceh, on Tuesday, and have been living in mosques since then.
"We arrived here after walking through the forests for five days with limited food, and some of us had to eat leaves," said Muhammad Ali, one of the refugees.
Spokesman for Security Restoration Command Adj. Sr. Comr. Sad Harunantyo said he had not received the report of the move of thousands of refugees from Central Aceh to North Aceh.
But the Security Restoration Command had noticed that some members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), a main separatist group in the province, have fled from North Aceh to Central Aceh, he said.
Based on data presented by Commission A of the Aceh Legislative Assembly, at least 80 people have been killed, dozens missing and over 1,000 houses burned down since April this year.
There is confusion about the source of the violence which hit Central Aceh recently. The Military/Police and GAM have accused each other of murder and arson in Central Aceh.
The GAM has been waging a guerrilla war for an independent Islamic state in Aceh since 1975. Jakarta and GAM representatives have met several times for peace talks, but there is no sign that the bloodshed would abate.
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