PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA
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British tanks used to enforce Aceh vote
6 April 2004
Concerns that people in the war-torn province of Aceh, Indonesia were forced by the military to vote in yesterday's national elections have been increased by a report of the deployment of British-supplied Scorpion tanks close to polling stations.
A journalist reporting for Radio 68H in the Netherlands witnessed a large number of Scorpions in Bireun, North Aceh.
TAPOL the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign has called this a deplorable move. It has urged the British Government to protest to Jakarta and demand the immediate withdrawal of all British-supplied equipment from Aceh.
Referring to reports of Achenese people being arrested for refusing to vote, TAPOL said in a letter today to Foreign Office minister, Mike O'Brien:
"There was a widespread fear that those who did not vote would be regarded by the military as sympathisers of the Free Aceh Movement, GAM. In these circumstances, the presence of heavy military equipment would certainly not have reassured the Acehnese, but would have added to their level of fear and contributed to an oppressive, heavily-militarised atmosphere under martial law, making free and fair elections impossible."
TAPOL has consistently opposed the use of British-supplied equipment in the military offensive in Aceh, which began when martial law was declared on 19 May 2003. As well as Scorpion tanks, Hawk jets, Saracen armoured vehicles and Stormer armoured personnel carriers have been used in breach of Indonesian assurances that British-supplied equipment will not be used for offensive or counter-insurgency purposes.
Around 2,000 people, the majority civilians, have been killed since the start of martial law and widespread human rights violations have been perpetrated. Despite the violence over many years, the British Government in August 2002 relaxed the conditions under which licences to Indonesia were granted, allowing British equipment to be used in Aceh.
Since 1997, when Labour came to power, the UK has delivered over £375 million worth of military equipment to Indonesia. Recently the financial value of military licences for Indonesia leapt from £2 million in 2000 to £41 million in 2002.
ENDS
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