Aceh peace talks star touching on substance

Aceh peace talks star touching on substance

Agencies, Helsinki

Aceh separatists and the Indonesian government will hold a third round of peace talks in Helsinki in April with rebels ready to drop demands for independence in exchange for Jakarta agreeing to consider self-rule, they said on Wednesday.

A second round of talks ended on Wednesday with progress being made towards ending 30 years of fighting in the oil- and gas-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra island, which has cost more than 12,000 lives.

"The position of both sides (is) that we still have differences, but at least we are starting to talk substance," Indonesian Information Minister Sofyan Djalil told Reuters.

"We proposed special autonomy, they proposed the term self government. It's on the table, we need to discuss the concept," he said after the three-day talks ended in Helsinki.

Martti Ahtisaari, who chairs the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) that brokered the peace talks, said the third meeting could take place in Helsinki in mid-April.

"It was agreed that this process should be continued. In order to give the parties an opportunity to analyze the issues and prepare themselves for a thorough discussion, I proposed that the next meeting be held in Helsinki on 12 to 17 April," former Finnish president Ahtisaari said.

He appealed to both parties to exercise utmost restraint on the ground as the talks are entering a sensitive phase.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) had previously rejected offers of autonomy, insisting on independence, but both the sides were brought together by the Dec. 26 tsunami which hit Aceh hard. Almost 240,000 people are dead or missing and more than 400,000 have been made homeless.

GAM's apparent change in position marks a possible turning point, though analysts and Indonesian politicians said hurdles remained, especially regarding what the rebels meant by the term self-government.

A preliminary peace agreement reached in 2002 fell apart partly over the issue of autonomy.

GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah said the rebel group had never dropped its demand for self-determination, but had agreed to talk about a concept of self-government for the province.

"We (GAM) have never dropped our demand for self- determination. We are just ready to pursue all possible ways that lead us to a comprehensive peace and justice in Aceh, especially after the tsunami struck the land," Bakhtiar told The Jakarta Post by phone from Helsinki after the meeting.

However, he refused to go into detail about GAM's concept of self-government, saying that "we will just define it and I'm not going to speculate on something that has yet to be firmed."

Bakhtiar also said that GAM's earlier demand for a cease-fire, the lifting of the state of emergency, and complete withdrawal of military troops from Aceh, would be discussed later when both sides resume talks on security arrangements.

"We agree to meet in April and expect that for the time being we can talk to our constituents," Bakhtiar said.

Damien Kingsbury, an Australian academic advising GAM, said the talks had achieved "implicitly and indeed explicitly ... the recognition that the people of Aceh are not happy with the status quo and there does need to be significant changes".

The rebels also say Indonesian government representatives will return to Jakarta to discuss the "self-government" term.

"There has been discussion about the need for local parties, and genuine representation and all of that, but beyond that there's no further detail," Kingsbury said.

Officials in Jakarta declined to comment on the talks, but Indonesia's powerful military welcomed GAM's apparent change.

"If they have softened, which is what we hoped for, this gives a good indication that the conflict in Aceh can soon be resolved," Indonesian Military chief Endriartono Sutarto was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying.