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update: Red Cross in Aceh Locks Down After Attack
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Tapol
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Nov 07, 2009 01:00 PST
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From Joyo
The Jakarta Globe
November 7, 2009
Red Cross Locks Down After Indonesian Attack
by Nurdin Hasan & Ismira Lutfia
The International Committee of the Red Cross suspended its
operations in Aceh on Friday after the shooting of a senior
worker.
Erhard Bauer, 50, chief of the German Red Cross delegation in
Aceh, was shot by two unknown people on a motorcycle in
Lampeuneurut, on the outskirts of Banda Aceh, at 5:30 p.m. on
Thursday.
Bauer was in the passenger seat of a Toyota Land Cruiser when he
was shot three times with a short-barreled weapon. He was hit in
the stomach, arm and left forearm. The driver and two local
staff in the car were unharmed.
He was evacuated to Singapore at midnight on Thursday for
intensive treatment after a few hours at Zainoel Abidin General
Hospital in Banda Aceh. “The victim was evacuated to Singapore
because he did not want the surgery to remove the projectile in
his abdomen to be done here [in Banda Aceh],” Aceh Police
spokesman Farid Ahmad Saleh said.
Bob McKerrow, head of the IFRC delegation in Indonesia, told the
Jakarta Globe that Bauer was operated on successfully on Friday
and that he was recovering.
Police are still pursuing the attackers and investigating the
possible motive, Farid said.
“The victim did not lose any of his possessions. For the time
being, we suspect this is an attempt by unscrupulous parties to
create disorder in safe and peaceful Aceh,” he said.
At the IFRC office in Ajun Jeumpet, in the suburbs of Banda
Aceh, staff members were barred from entering the premises.
“I’m sorry. Today is a day off. No staff member is to enter,
except for drivers,” a security officer said. Guests were also
barred.
Aceh Red Cross head Bustari Mansyur said the IFRC and the
Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) had stopped their operations for the
whole of Friday. “Cessation of Red Cross activity is a symbol of
our consternation,” Mansyur said.
But an Irish Red Cross staff member, who wished to remain
anonymous, said he had been sent an SMS asking him not to come
to the office “until further notice.”
McKerrow said the one-day suspension of the work was because
officials from the IFRC and PMI had to meet with the police.
“There appear to be no motives so far, as the police could not
find any,” McKerrow said.
He rejected the suggestion that any rogue elements of the
disbanded Free Aceh Movement (GAM)might have been involved. “We
are a humanitarian mission and we keep out of politics,”
McKerrow said. He added that the IFRC had never had problems in
Aceh during five years of its operations in the province.
He said the Red Cross operations would continue as normal. “The
timeline for IFRC will continue as scheduled until the end of
2010,” McKerrow said.
The shooting was the first of a foreign national after the
government of Indonesia and GAM signed a peace treaty in
Helsinki in August 2005.
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