JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- As pressure mounts in Indonesia to allow an independence referendum in strife-torn Aceh province, thousands of people have begun fleeing the territory in anticipation of increased violence, government officials said today.
Crowds gathered today at the Lhokseumawe seaport in northern Aceh, hoping to board ships out of the territory. Port authority official Al Ansor said the number of people leaving the province had quadrupled in recent days, but he did not give specific figures.Most of those leaving were government employees, Ansor said. In past months, rebel fighters have killed several civil servants.
In the latest round of violence in the territory, two civilians were fatally shot in Krueng Raya town, police reported. Police chief Lt. Istar Muhtarudin said the identity of the dead and the circumstances surrounding the deaths were unknown.
An official with the national airline, Garuda Indonesia, said all flights out of Aceh were booked for the next three weeks.
"We plan to apply for bigger planes and additional flights," said the official, Muhammad Anshori.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's parliament approved the release of 96 political prisoners, most of them jailed for separatist activities in Aceh, East Timor and Irian Jaya. The move was seen as an effort to placate separatist sentiment in Aceh and Irian Jaya and to improve relations with East Timor, which officially seceded from Indonesia last month.
Reports from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, have suggested rebel fighters will attack military targets before the Dec. 4 anniversary of the rebel Free Aceh Movement's 1976 founding.
Last week, Mobil Oil Indonesia Inc. announced it has started evacuating families of employees working in the oil-rich region because of the potential for further bloodshed.
Embittered by years of Indonesian military abuses and perceived economic exploitation, the Acehnese refer to the people from Java, Indonesian's main island, as "colonialists."
Rebel fighters in Aceh, which lies 2,000 miles east of the capital, Jakarta, have been struggling for independence since 1976. More than 5,000 people have died or have disappeared in the fighting since 1989, human rights activists say.
Two leading Indonesian politicians visited Aceh over the weekend and voiced their support for an independence referendum like the one held in East Timor in August. Human Rights Minister Hasballah Saad and legislative leader Amien Rais said they back the right of the Acehnese to conduct a referendum.