Aceh peace talks in Switzerland

Aceh peace talks in Switzerland
to hammer out details of cease-fire

Lely T. Djuhari
Associated Press
Jakarta

Peace talks between Aceh separatists and the Indonesian
government slated for mid October in Switzerland will hammer out
ways to end hostilities in their 25-year conflict, a rebel
spokesman said Sunday.

"We have been given proposals by the Indonesian government
earlier this month on how to carry out a cessation of
hostilities," said Bachtiar Abdullah, a spokesman for the Free
Aceh Movement, in a phone interview from Stockholm, Sweden, where
the movement's government-in-exile is based.

"We are currently studying it and will discuss it in mid
October," he said.

Rebels want independent international mediators to monitor the
cease-fire, which Jakarta has previously opposed but now
supports, according to Abdullah.

The two sides entered into a cease-fire in 2000 but that
collapsed the following year amid escalating bloodshed.

Abdullah voiced concern about the recent military clampdown on
foreigners in Aceh. On Sept. 10, security forces detained British
researcher Lesley McCulloch and American nurse Joy Lee Sadler.
Police accuse them of contacting the guerrillas and possessing
rebel documents and photos.

"It is not true. The women never met any of my men in Aceh,"
Abdullah said.

Top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned rebels
on Saturday not to stall the peace talks organized by the Geneva-
based Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

"For Indonesia, the sooner the talks begin, the better,"
Yudhoyono told reporters after a two-day tour of western Aceh.
Jakarta has offered the region greater autonomy in handling its
internal affairs and a larger share of revenue from the
province's resources. It has urged insurgents to accept the
autonomy offer by Dec. 7, the end of the Muslim fasting month of
Ramadhan, or face a possible military crackdown.

Up to 10,000 people - mainly civilians - have been killed in
fighting since 1976 in the gas and oil-rich province on the
northern tip of Sumatra island. About 900 have died so far this
year.