Malaria, diarrhoea and other diseases are spreading in the squalid camps while children are deprived of schooling. Instead, the rebels submit the villagers to political indoctrination, and prevent most of them from returning home, according to interviews with refugees, students and rebels. At home and abroad, many observers and humanitarian fund-raisers are unaware of Free Aceh's role in sustaining these camps. We don't want to get involved in politics. But the refugees have become a political weapon in Aceh's fiercely polarized struggle.
Rebels urge villagers to abandon their homes, harvests and livestock.
Indonesian soldiers order them to stay put. Like it or not, he must choose sides. Free Aceh's resurgence began in mid-1998 with the fall of President Suharto and the return of activists from Malaysia. They revived political networks and began recruiting sympathizers among those who felt mistreated by the military. Amid unprecedented freedom of speech, local media covered the outpouring of anger over human-rights abuses and calls for a referendum on independence.