Aceh leaders hail plan for Puteh-GAM talks

Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Muslim and community leaders have given their support to Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh's plan to invite the military chief of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) Tengku Abdullah Syafiie for talks to bring an end to fighting in the restive province.

Imam Syuja', head of the Aceh Civilian Task Force, said the plan for peace talks was positive and should be backed by all sectors of society, including the rebels.

However, he said on Saturday that the planned peace dialog should first be approved GAM top leaders currently living in Sweden.

The possible drawback for the talks is that Puteh will represent the government while Syafiie will represent GAM as its military chief, said Syuja', a member of the team monitoring peace talks between the government and GAM, which was mediated by the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC).

"It's a political affair. I know this becomes an internal problem within GAM," he added.

Support for the governor's initiative to hold a dialog with GAM leaders also came from Hamid Sarong, dean of the law faculty of the Ar-Raniry State Academy of Islamic Studies (IAIN) in Banda Aceh.

Hamid, also a local Muslim leader, suggested that Puteh and Syafiie hold peace talks in a neutral country.

But Said Adnan, a GAM spokesman, said the move was inappropriate. "Because Abdullah Puteh is a civilian leader of the Indonesian government, he should have invited Aceh's GAM governor for talks, not Tengku Abdullah Syafiie who is GAM's military commander."

Adnan said GAM leaders have not yet decided whether to accept the invitation or not.

Meanwhile, at least 10 people were killed on Friday and Saturday in fresh violence that continued to plague Aceh.

Four were killed on Saturday when troops raided a house in Seunebok Tengoh village in East Aceh district, spokesman of the Aceh security restoration operation Major Zaenal Mutaqin said.

In the incident, three other rebels escaped, but the servicemen seized an AK-47 rifle, two M16 rifles, and two grenades from the house.

Another six people were killed on Friday, officials and humanitarian workers said on Saturday.

In Pidie regency, four male bodies with gunshot wounds were found on the side of the road in Meureudu village, about 160 kilometers east of Banda Aceh.

Pidie Military District chief Lt. Col. Supartodi said that the four bodies were GAM members who were killed in a military raid on a rebel base about one kilometer from the village.

GAM spokesman in Pidie, Abu Razak, however, was quick to deny the claim. "They were not GAM members, they were civilians," the rebel said.

In West Aceh another rebel was killed in a fierce gunfight with the military in Meunasah Rayeuk Lamno village, some 100 kilometers south of Banda Aceh, said Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin.

An unidentified male body with gunshot wounds was also discovered in Samalanga village in Bireun regency, some 200 kilometers east of Banda Aceh, on Friday. The body was taken to Dr. Fauziah Bireuen General Hospital, chief of Samalanga community health service Dr. Muchtar said.