Dutchman becomes witness to peace in Aceh

Dutchman becomes witness to peace in Aceh

Tiarma Siboro
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

This month is another historic moment for peace in Indonesia's
province of Aceh.

It has been identified by two opposing sides -- the Indonesian
government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) -- as the starting
point for the demilitarization process, as mandated by the peace
pact signed by the two parties in Helsinki on Aug. 15.

The three-month process of demilitarization, which, it is
hoped, will end the decades-long bloodshed in Aceh, could well
become the center of attention for the international community.

The presence of no fewer than 150 representatives of the
European Union peace mission is boosted by 100 members from ASEAN
countries.

Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith, who served as a NATO mediator in
the Balkans, has been chosen to lead the EU mission in Aceh -- a
mandate that has given him a two-fold challenge.

It is a part of history that the Dutch waged a long painful
war from 1873 to 1903 in the territory. It was a war the Dutch
never really won, and, instead, became a critical reference point
for the Acehnese anticolonial struggle.

So for Feith, who has maintained a personal approach to
dealing with conflicting parties, and has maintained the approach
of negotiation as the best philosophy, such a mandate is also
considered a test as to whether his Dutch roots will contribute
to turning a series of ordeals in Aceh into a lasting piece.

"I think they are not going to support the peace accord
because of my blue eyes or because they like me so much. They
will stick to it because peace is in their own interests," said
Feith.

Pieter Cornelis Feith was born on Feb. 9, 1945, in
Rotterdam. He is currently a close adviser to EU foreign policy
chief Javier Solana and holds the position of deputy director for
political and military affairs in the General Secretariat of the
European Union.

Political science student

Young Feith graduated from high school in his hometown in the
Netherlands. He decided to continue his studies abroad and
received a degree in political science from the University of
Lausanne in Switzerland. In 1970, he received another degree from
the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in
Massachusetts, the U.S.

His diplomatic career began in the foreign ministry of the
Netherlands in 1970. He held posts abroad in Bonn, Khartoum,
Damascus and New York, before being named the second-most senior
official in the Dutch delegation to NATO.

It was during his tenure with NATO that Feith, a first
lieutenant in the Netherlands Marine Corps Reserve, became
involved in the Balkans crisis.

Beginning with his appointment as political adviser to NATO's
command in Bosnia in 1995, he was then put in charge of managing
NATO's operations in the Balkans from 1998 to 2001, and became a
special representative of then NATO Secretary-General Lord
Robertson.

In that capacity, Feith served as a mediator in Macedonia and
managed to initiate the negotiations that led to the Ohrid peace
accord to curb the civil war involving ethnic Albanian rebels and
the government troops.

Mediation in Kosovo

Feith also made a contribution to dealing with the Kosovo
crisis, including the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Kosovo
(KFOR) in 1999, to enable over 890,000 displaced persons to
return to their homes.

He did not stop at that point, though.

Feith began to create a "blueprint" for Kosovo's future as he
considered that the refugee issues and province-wide elections
remained problems for the country.

The "blueprint" would have to create the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (FRY) consisting of three republics: Serbia,
Montenegro and Kosovo, whose status would lie somewhere in
between autonomy and full independence.

The establishment of a civil authority and administration is
another challenge.

He also provided suggestions to the NATO secretary-general and
North Atlantic Council on how to take action in settling the
conflict in the Balkans, especially after the presence of SFOR,
the Stabilization Force, responsible for peacekeeping in Bosnia
and Herzegovina.

It is clear that Feith has been chosen to lead the team in
Aceh to address issues that are similar to those he faced in the
Balkans: the decommissioning of arms by the Acehnese resistance
and the withdrawal of central government troops.

But he will not stop there.

He will closely monitor social and political developments in
the province, which were badly devastated by the tsunami last
year, in which around 131,000 residents were killed.

Reintegration

His responsibilities will mean he has to deal with assisting
former GAM guerrillas to reintegrate into society, support a
genuine democracy that enables Acehnese to hold local legislative
elections and monitor human rights issues.

An estimated 15,000 people have been killed during the course
of the conflict between the government and GAM, which started in
1976.

"My team and I wish to ensure that the whole process will
become self-sustaining before we recommend an end to our presence
in Aceh," he said.

Some eyebrows have been raised, though, with some Jakarta-
based politicians and military people questioning Feith's
commitment to maintaining a united Republic of Indonesia.

Feith just smiles in response to such comments.

"I certainly cannot promote separation in Aceh or anywhere
else. The European Union's foreign policy is clear: we are
supposed to keep nations together, not support separatism.

"We need to deal with current global challenges, like fighting
terrorism, rather than allowing nations to fall apart or break
up. They need to stay together and remain strong, to avoid
becoming failed states.

We are here to work in support of the territorial integrity of
Indonesia."