WASHINGTON, Oct 6 (AFP) - Amnesty International Wednesday urged Indonesian President-elect Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to give top priority to ending human rights violations in the restive province of Aceh.
"This is the first test for Mr Yudhoyono when he takes office and the steps he will take on the situation in Aceh will define his presidency," said T. Kumar, the rights group's Washington-based advocacy director for Asia and Pacific.
He was speaking in conjunction with Amnesty's release of a damning report on human rights abuses committed largely by the military in the small oil-rich province in the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
It came a week after another group, Human Rights Watch, released findings that electric shocks, cigarette burns, beatings and other tortures were routinely used by Indonesian security forces on detainees suspected of supporting the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Indonesia's military and police have denied the torture allegations.
Amnesty said in its report that young men, even non-GAM members, were killed, tortured, ill-treated and arbitrarily detained, while women and girls were raped and subjected to other forms of sexual violence.
Trials of hundreds of individuals suspected of being members of or supporting GAM were flawed, it said, adding that some of those imprisoned may be "prisoners of conscience."
Amnesty charged that in its efforts to sever the logistical and moral support of the population for GAM, the security forces had forcibly driven civilians from their homes and villages, carried out armed raids and house-to-house searches and destroyed houses and other property.
Civilians, including children, were also forced to support military operations, it said.
Amnesty also alleged that human rights abuses were committed by GAM, including hostage taking and use of child soldiers.
Yudhoyono, an former general, was asked to establish a high-level fact finding team of independent experts to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the human rights abuses, make the findings public and punish the offenders.
"After decades of suffering, the opportunity arises now for an end to the crisis faced by the people of Aceh and for the new president to rise up to the challenge and tackle the problem as a statesman and in a sincere manner," Kumar said.
"Indonesians also should be concerned about their military's massive human rights abuses in Aceh and should pressure the government to bring an end to the suffering of the Acehnese civilians," he said.
Security forces say more than 2,200 rebels have been killed since the military launched an all-out offensive against GAM in May 2003. Rights groups say many of the dead were civilians.