PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

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The following letter was sent by TAPOL to British Foreign Office Minister, Mike O'Brien, on 8 May 2003

See also press release dated 8 May 2003

Mike O’Brien,
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
Whitehall,
London SW1

Dear Mr O’Brien,

In the past few days, the Indonesian armed forces have announced the dispatch to Aceh of thousands of additional troops as well as many aircraft to participate in renewed military operations in preparation for the impending breakdown of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed last December between the Indonesian Government and the Free Aceh Movement, GAM.

During an inspection of troops in Surabaya yesterday, in anticipation of their departure for Aceh today, it was announced that thirteen Scorpion tanks were among the equipment that was being loaded onto warships of the Indonesian Navy for dispatch to Aceh.

The use of UK-manufactured Scorpion tanks for the purposes of military operations in Aceh illustrates again that the government’s failure to revoke the export licences for the Scorpions in July 1997 has left the Indonesian military with equipment that can be used for internal repression. This is clearly contrary to the UK’s arms export criteria announced at the same time.

We therefore call on the British Government to make immediate representations to the Indonesian Government for an assurance that no equipment supplied by the UK will be used in Aceh and to specifically ensure that Scorpion tanks will not be sent to Aceh.

We take this opportunity of stating that the intention of the Indonesian armed forces, TNI, to launch a major military offensive in Aceh represents a grave threat to the safety and security of the Acehnese people and urge the British Government to exert utmost pressure on the Indonesian Government to halt these war preparations and to return to the negotiating table in renewed efforts to resolve the conflict in Aceh by means of dialogue.

Yours sincerely,

Ann Feltham, Campaign Against Arms Trade,

Carmel Budiardjo, TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign

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