Aceh leaders hail plan for Puteh-GAM talks

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.