Foreign envoys weigh support for Aceh truce<\/p>\n
Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh<\/p>\n
Ambassadors from the United States, Japan and Italy arrived here
\non Monday for a two-day visit to show support for a recent peace
\nagreement to end decades of hostilities in the troubled province
\nof Aceh.<\/p>\n
World Bank country director Andrew Steer was also among the
\ndelegation members that included U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia
\nRalph L. Boyce, Japanese Ambassador Yutaka Iimura, and Italian
\nAmbassador Franscesco Maria Greco who represented the European
\nUnion.<\/p>\n
They were accompanied by Coordinating Minister for Political
\nand Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Minister of
\nTrade and Industry Rini Suwandi.<\/p>\n
The three foreign envoys and the ministers went straight into
\na closed-door meeting with Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh, all the
\nregents in Aceh, and other local government officials.<\/p>\n
The visit came more than one month after the Indonesian
\ngovernment and the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a peace
\ndeal on Dec. 9 in Geneva to cease all hostilities in the conflict
\nwhich seen some 10,000 killed since 1976.<\/p>\n
\"We are here to celebrate and honor the signing of the
\ncessation of hostilities agreement,\" Boyce told the meeting,
\nreferring to the peace accord.<\/p>\n
\"We believe the people of Aceh want peace and deserve peace.
\nWe believe the government in Jakarta wants peace and is trying to
\ncarry out the hard work of bringing peace to Aceh,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Iimura concurred with Boyce, saying: \"Peace is important, not
\nonly for the people of Aceh, not only for the people of
\nIndonesia, but also for the Southeast Asia region\".<\/p>\n
\"The European Union is for the integrity and unity of
\nIndonesia and also supports the decentralization process,\" Greco
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The European Union also supports the process of dialog to
\nsolve the conflict in Aceh and the ongoing process. Let peace go
\nahead,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Boyce said the two-day visit reflected the world community's
\nsupport for the peace process in the resource-rich province.<\/p>\n
\"Our work and our support, will be, of course, dependent on
\nthe security environment,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Iimura said that the visit was to follow up on the Tokyo
\nPreparatory Conference on Peace and Reconstruction in Aceh which
\ntook place on Dec. 3.<\/p>\n
Donors at the conference agreed that a coordinated approach by
\na number of countries to support Aceh would make for more
\neffective use of aid. The current visit is to further assess the
\ndevelopment needs in the province.<\/p>\n
World Bank's Steer said four teams had come to Aceh to
\nidentify crucial needs to develop the province's economic, social
\nand governmental affairs.<\/p>\n
The teams were drafting a report to be discussed in a
\nconference with the Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI)
\nscheduled for Jan. 21 and Jan. 22 in Bali, he said.<\/p>\n
He said there will be a special session to discuss the
\nreconstruction process in Aceh during the conference.<\/p>\n
Steer said the peace process should sincerely be maintained so
\nas to smooth the way for foreign aid to Aceh, adding that if
\npeace was not ensured, fund assistance would be halted.<\/p>\n
He could not give the amount of aid that would go to the
\nprovince. \"The important thing now is not how much aid will be
\ngiven to Aceh but ... how to do reconstruction and rehabilitation
\nin Aceh so that it can become a new era for a new Aceh\", he said.<\/p>\n
Minister Susilo told the same forum that security was
\nincreasingly getting better in Aceh despite the fact that
\nsporadic violence still broke out since the peace pact.<\/p>\n
\"We hope there will be no one wanting to disrupt and betray
\nthe ongoing peace process,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The foreign delegation was slated to meet Indonesian and GAM
\nrepresentatives in the Joint Security Committee being tasked with
\nmonitoring the truce enforcement in Aceh.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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