Escalating violence cripples business activities in troubled Aceh

The escalation of violence in troubled Aceh has crippled business activities, with most multinationals operating in the natural resource riched province closing their offices on fear of further worsening of the security situation, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Saturday.

The daily reported that major companies such as PT Arun LNG Co, PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda, ExxonMobil, PT Asean Aceh Fertilizer, PT Kertas Kraft Aceg and PT Humpus Aromatic Group have temporarily stopped their operations.

Maimun Habsyah, the spokesman for Pupuk Iskandar, confirmed that the production had not run normally lately due to the security reasons but he said that the fertilizer would still be able to meet this year's production target despite the production interruption.

"This year's production target will not be affected although there is escalation of violence ahead of a major rally in Banda Aceh," he said.

At least 17 people have been killed since Nov 7 as hundreds of thousands of people from five regencies across strife-torn Aceh defied security cordons to attend the assembly at the provincial capital of Banda Aceh over the weekend. (*)