ASEAN countries to send peace monitors to Aceh
ASEAN countries to send peace monitors to Aceh
Jason Gutierrez, Agence France-Presse/Vientiane
Southeast Asian countries have agreed to join a peace monitoring mission in Indonesia's Aceh province in a move which could lead to a more formalized regional conflict-monitoring system, officials said on Wednesday.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said he made a formal request to colleagues from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to help monitor a peace deal to be signed Aug. 15 with separatist rebels.
He said some nations gave "firm commitments" to supply monitors in Indonesia's westernmost province. The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the government are due to sign the deal ending almost 30 years of guerrilla insurgency.
"So far, countries from ASEAN that we have asked to contribute to the Aceh peace monitoring mission have expressed their willingness," Hassan told AFP, naming Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines.
Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon told reporters his country was prepared to commit about 20 to 40 monitors, "depending on requests."
His Philippine counterpart, Alberto Romulo, said the mechanics of the mission would be finalized at a meeting of ASEAN officials on Aug. 1-2 in Jakarta.
The meeting could be a step towards an "ASEAN-wide Indonesian- led peace monitoring mission" that could be deployed to other member states in the future, Romulo said.
Foreign monitors were first deployed to Aceh under a short- lived cease-fire agreed in 2002. But a few dozen unarmed monitors from Thailand and the Philippines were forced to withdraw amid escalating violence.
Malaysia and Brunei have also supplied about 60 military personnel to monitor a fragile cease-fire between Manila and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Indonesia last year proposed that ASEAN set up its own peacekeeping force as part of the ASEAN Security Community, the 10-nation bloc's general pledge to live in peace.
But there has been little further talk of the idea. Singapore expressed reservations, arguing that ASEAN is not a security or defense organization, while Vietnam was also reportedly cool to the proposal.
Hassan acknowledged that some nations had expressed "sensitivities" about such a move.
Indonesia's foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said the proposed multilateral Aceh mission would be a sign of the region's willingness to deal with such problems.
"It's increasingly becoming the norm that ASEAN countries assist one another in such an undertaking. It shows that ASEAN is increasingly becoming more mature in its capacity in dealing with security issues," Marty said.
The European Union (EU) has also committed to send monitors. Details would be firmed up when EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana attends ASEAN's regional security forum here on Thursday.
The monitors would oversee the decommissioning and destruction of weapons that would be surrendered by GAM, as well as the peaceful withdrawal of the Indonesian forces from the region, Marty said.
Hassan on Wednesday met New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff in bilateral talks that also focused on Aceh.
"I think that it is very important that the EU and the countries in ASEAN will contribute a monitoring organization as part of confidence-building that will help achieve the outcome that the Indonesian government and negotiators of GAM are looking forward to," Goff told reporters.