Aceh leaders hail plan for Puteh-GAM talks<\/p>\n
Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh<\/p>\n
Muslim and community leaders have given their support to Aceh
\nGovernor Abdullah Puteh's plan to invite the military chief of
\nthe separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) Tengku Abdullah Syafiie
\nfor talks to bring an end to fighting in the restive province.<\/p>\n
Imam Syuja', head of the Aceh Civilian Task Force, said the
\nplan for peace talks was positive and should be backed by all
\nsectors of society, including the rebels.<\/p>\n
However, he said on Saturday that the planned peace dialog
\nshould first be approved GAM top leaders currently living in
\nSweden.<\/p>\n
The possible drawback for the talks is that Puteh will
\nrepresent the government while Syafiie will represent GAM as its
\nmilitary chief, said Syuja', a member of the team monitoring
\npeace talks between the government and GAM, which was mediated by
\nthe Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC).<\/p>\n
\"It's a political affair. I know this becomes an internal
\nproblem within GAM,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Support for the governor's initiative to hold a dialog with
\nGAM leaders also came from Hamid Sarong, dean of the law faculty
\nof the Ar-Raniry State Academy of Islamic Studies (IAIN) in Banda
\nAceh.<\/p>\n
Hamid, also a local Muslim leader, suggested that Puteh and
\nSyafiie hold peace talks in a neutral country.<\/p>\n
But Said Adnan, a GAM spokesman, said the move was
\ninappropriate. \"Because Abdullah Puteh is a civilian leader of
\nthe Indonesian government, he should have invited Aceh's GAM
\ngovernor for talks, not Tengku Abdullah Syafiie who is GAM's
\nmilitary commander.\"<\/p>\n
Adnan said GAM leaders have not yet decided whether to accept
\nthe invitation or not.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, at least 10 people were killed on Friday and
\nSaturday in fresh violence that continued to plague Aceh.<\/p>\n
Four were killed on Saturday when troops raided a house in
\nSeunebok Tengoh village in East Aceh district, spokesman of the
\nAceh security restoration operation Major Zaenal Mutaqin said.<\/p>\n
In the incident, three other rebels escaped, but the
\nservicemen seized an AK-47 rifle, two M16 rifles, and two
\ngrenades from the house.<\/p>\n
Another six people were killed on Friday, officials and
\nhumanitarian workers said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
In Pidie regency, four male bodies with gunshot wounds were
\nfound on the side of the road in Meureudu village, about 160
\nkilometers east of Banda Aceh.<\/p>\n
Pidie Military District chief Lt. Col. Supartodi said that the
\nfour bodies were GAM members who were killed in a military raid
\non a rebel base about one kilometer from the village.<\/p>\n
GAM spokesman in Pidie, Abu Razak, however, was quick to deny
\nthe claim. \"They were not GAM members, they were civilians,\" the
\nrebel said.<\/p>\n
In West Aceh another rebel was killed in a fierce gunfight
\nwith the military in Meunasah Rayeuk Lamno village, some 100
\nkilometers south of Banda Aceh, said Indonesian Military (TNI)
\nspokesman Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin.<\/p>\n
An unidentified male body with gunshot wounds was also
\ndiscovered in Samalanga village in Bireun regency, some 200
\nkilometers east of Banda Aceh, on Friday. The body was taken to
\nDr. Fauziah Bireuen General Hospital, chief of Samalanga
\ncommunity health service Dr. Muchtar said.<\/p>",
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