Aceh rebels exploit tsunami tragedy

Aceh rebels exploit tsunami tragedy

Kirsten E. Schulze, The Straits Times, Asia News Network, Singapore

When the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) called a unilateral
ceasefire following the tsunami disaster, hopes were raised that
this humanitarian disaster might lead to an end to the separatist
conflict.

Indeed, it looks like talks on a temporary cessation of
hostilities between Indonesia and GAM in order to facilitate the
relief efforts may be on the cards.

This does not, however, mean that reconciliation is imminent
as GAM has not changed its goal of an independent Aceh. Instead,
the separatists have incorporated Aceh's tragedy and the
ceasefire into their strategy to gain international support.

In the eyes of GAM, the humanitarian disaster provides an
unprecedented opportunity. Never before have so many foreigners
been on the ground in Aceh and never before has Aceh had such
world attention. Not surprisingly, GAM quickly incorporated the
tsunami into its strategy, at the heart of which is
internationalization of its struggle for independence.

After GAM's leadership went into exile in 1979, it started to
lobby the international community to pressure Indonesia into
letting Aceh secede. GAM actively sought support from the United
Nations, the United States and the European Union as well as non-
governmental organizations (NGOs). Involvement with the latter
became so pronounced that the Indonesian government closed Aceh
to international NGOs during martial law in 2003.

Since the tsunami, GAM has issued statement after statement
condemning Indonesian relief efforts, accusing the Indonesian
government of deliberately delaying aid and the Indonesian
military (TNI) of hindering its distribution. It has called for
the withdrawal of Indonesian forces and international
intervention.

GAM guerrillas on the ground have also become more active.
During the first week after the tsunami, they intercepted an aid
convoy trying to make its way to Meulaboh. The guerrillas emptied
the trucks of all their goods. Over the last week, there have
been reports of clashes between GAM and the Indonesian security
forces. Aid agencies now fear for the safety of their workers.

While GAM has no interest in attacking foreigners in Aceh, the
separatists are trying to provoke the TNI into an overreaction in
order to draw further international attention to their struggle
for independence. They are also exploiting the fact that two-
thirds of the Indonesian troops deployed across Aceh are now
focused on the relief efforts and that the security forces in
Meulaboh and Banda Aceh were badly hit.

In addition, GAM rebels have used the general confusion around
the disaster-stricken areas to come down from the mountains into
which they had been pushed over the previous year of counter-
insurgency operations. Guerrillas have seized the chance to
replenish their depleted weapons with guns taken from the dead
bodies of police and soldiers as well as from damaged arsenals.

Not surprisingly, in light of its strategy of
internationalization, GAM has started to mingle with the
displaced persons, trying to gain the ear of the numerous
international NGOs. This poses the greatest risk to the relief
efforts as international NGOs could be drawn into a dangerous
political game. Already, international human rights organizations
have started echoing GAM's condemnations of the Indonesian
government and military. It would be nothing but disastrous if
well-intended international NGOs on the ground in Aceh followed
suit.

In the worst-case scenario this could again lead to the
closure of Aceh to foreign organizations.

Already ultra-nationalists in the Indonesian military stated
that foreign military contingents should be out of Aceh by the
end of March.

The international community should beware of falling into
GAM's trap. GAM does not represent all of the Acehnese and it
certainly does not represent most of the people hit by the
tsunami.

Although one often gets the impression from media reports that
only the Indonesian army has committed human rights violations in
Aceh, since 1976 GAM has been responsible for the burning of
schools, killing of teachers, destruction of local government
offices and clinics, kidnapping of civil servants, murder of
judges, attacks on the energy infrastructure, ethnic cleansing of
Javanese migrants and wholesale extortion and intimidation of the
Acehnese people.

It is crucial not to let GAM drive a wedge between the
international community and the Indonesian government. Such a
rift would not only play into GAM's hands but also into the hands
of militant Islamists who oppose the Western presence in Aceh and
ultra-nationalists who are suspicious of foreign intentions.

Above all it would hurt the Acehnese people.

Dr Kirsten E. Schulze, a senior lecturer at the London School
of Economics, has just returned from Aceh. She is the author of
The Free Aceh Movement (GAM): Anatomy Of A Separatist
Organization.