TNI prepares contingency plan for Aceh truce<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Military (TNI) has prepared a contingency plan to
\nanticipate possible violations of the Aceh peace agreement
\nscheduled for signing on Aug. 15.<\/p>\n
TNI Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said on Thursday the
\nplan came after he learned there were arguments within the Free
\nAceh Movement (GAM) rebel group's structure regarding the peace
\ndeal.<\/p>\n
\"In a show of our support for the peace effort, I have ordered
\nsoldiers to stop the offensive for the time being. I also ask all
\nparties to exercise restraint for the sake of the peace deal,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Endriartono would not elaborate on the contingency plan.<\/p>\n
He was speaking after a meeting with all three armed forces'
\nchiefs of staff and Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono on a
\ndraft peace agreement signed by delegations of the Indonesian
\ngovernment and GAM in Helsinki on July 17.<\/p>\n
Under the draft peace deal, Indonesia will reduce its military
\nand police presence in Aceh in conjunction with the collection
\nand destruction of weapons possessed by the rebels.<\/p>\n
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said the process would
\nlast three months, beginning from September this year.<\/p>\n
Endriartono refused to disclose the number of troops to be
\nwithdrawn from Aceh, but said \"we will gradually pull back 30
\npercent of our troops each month\".<\/p>\n
No fewer than 38,000 troops have been deployed to Aceh to
\ncrush GAM rebels since the government imposed martial law on the
\nprovince in May 2003.<\/p>\n
Although the Susilo government lifted martial law last year
\nand the ensuing state of emergency in Aceh in May this year, the
\nheavy presence of troops has been maintained.<\/p>\n
The Cessation of Hostilities Agreement reached between the
\nIndonesian government and GAM in December 2002 proved short-lived
\ndue to violations perpetrated by both parties. Martial law was
\ndeclared five months later after the rebels refused to surrender
\ntheir arms and recognize Jakarta's sovereignty over the natural
\nresource-rich province.<\/p>\n
From Vientiane, the European Union said it would lead a peace
\nmonitoring mission to Aceh.<\/p>\n
It will be the first time the EU has sent peace observers to
\nAsia.<\/p>\n
\"We have experience of this type of operation and normally we
\ndo it well,\" foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Reuters,
\nreferring to previous dispatches of EU monitors to conflict zones
\nin Bosnia and Africa.<\/p>\n
The 200-strong team could start moving into place as early as
\nAug. 16, a day after the Aceh peace deal will be signed by the
\nwarring parties.<\/p>\n
Joining the monitoring team will be five contributing
\ncountries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
\n(ASEAN). They are Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and the
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
The foreign monitors will serve for six months, with a
\npossible extension of another six months.<\/p>\n
Endriartono asserted that the TNI would be involved in the
\nmission only to provide protection for the observers.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, a government negotiator in the Helsinki
\ntalks and Minister of Information and Communications Sofyan
\nDjalil said the team would monitor the peace deal and define
\nmechanisms of dispute settlement in case of violations.<\/p>\n
Sofyan was speaking after talks with diplomats from the five
\nASEAN countries that will be involved in peace monitoring in
\nAceh.<\/p>\n
Thailand's foreign minister said on Wednesday his country was
\nprepared to commit between 20 and 40 monitors \"depending on
\nrequests\".<\/p>\n
Foreign monitors were sent to Aceh following a truce in
\nDecember 2002, but dozens of unarmed monitors from Thailand and
\nthe Philippines were forced to pull out amid escalating violence.<\/p>\n
About 15,000 people have been killed in Aceh in one of the
\nlongest armed conflicts in the world since GAM began its struggle
\nfor Acehnese independence in 1976.<\/p>\n
A peace process was restarted in the wake of last December's
\ntsunami, which killed 129,000 people in the province alone.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tni-prepares-contingency-plan-for-aceh-truce-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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