EU mulls mission to Aceh to monitor peace agreement

EU mulls mission to Aceh to monitor peace agreement

Agencies, Brussels, Jakarta, United Nations

The imminent signing of a peace deal ending decades of violent
conflict in Aceh has drawn praise from the United Nations, the
European Union and the United States.

The European Union is considering sending a team of monitors
to the troubled province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) to
help implement a new peace agreement there, EU foreign ministers
said on Monday.

The EU ministers welcomed the conclusion of peace talks
between Aceh rebels and the Indonesian government in Helsinki
over the weekend, adding that "the EU was prepared ... to provide
observers to monitor implementation" of the pact, if signed.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told
reporters the EU head office was looking at providing funds for a
mission to bolster human rights and retrain rebels.

"We are very, very pleased that a draft peace deal has been
agreed in the Aceh conflict," Ferrero-Waldner said in Brussels.

EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana said the 25-nation bloc
could send around 200 observers to help monitor the agreement.
Solana said he would visit Jakarta next week to hold talks with
senior government officials to discuss the mission.

"We have received from the two sides the offer to monitor the
peace process that was initialed," said Solana. "After the
tsunami, one of the things we wanted to do is to see if we could,
at the end of these events, after so much suffering there, to get
the peace process (going) in Aceh. We are pretty close."

He added that the EU would be keen to work with other Asian
countries in monitoring the pact, if implemented.

Ferrero-Waldner said the EU head office was ready to look at
supporting the peace process beyond the US$241 million the EU has
already sent in post-tsunami aid.

"We think this is crucial to accompany this process," she
said. The measures could include training police, monitoring
elections and helping armed combatants reintegrate into society.

She said the EU was "ready to explore all probabilities ... to
commit further funds."

A mission to monitor and possibly train police in NAD, if
approved, would be the first deployment to Asia under the EU's
burgeoning common defense policy.

The two sides agreed to sign an accord in the Finnish capital
on Aug. 15 to end fighting that has killed 15,000 people since
1976 -- many of them civilians caught up in army sweeps in
isolated villages.

Officials said a peace deal would help reconstruction efforts
in NAD, which is still reeling from the Dec. 26 earthquake and
tsunami that killed more than 130,000 people.

Indonesian government said the meeting with EU officials might
take place on July 28. Key countries from the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have also been asked to
contribute troops to the monitoring team and have been invited to
the meeting.

Details of the monitoring operation such as the length of
service and duties of the observers were spelled out in the draft
agreement signed on Sunday, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda
said.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has warmly welcomed the peace
deal reached by the Indonesian government and separatist rebels
to end almost 30 years of fighting in NAD.

"The Secretary-General commends both sides for their
determination to reach a lasting and sustainable peace in Aceh
and strongly urges them to demonstrate continued resolve and
commitment throughout the implementation of the agreed terms," UN
spokeswoman Marie Okabe told reporters on Monday. "He (Annan)
hopes this breakthrough heralds a new and brighter future for the
people of Aceh."

In Washington, the United States said on Monday that a
peaceful settlement to separatist conflict was within sight.

"We understand that the two sides have initialed a draft
accord. We are hopeful that a peaceful settlement to this
longstanding conflict is within reach," State Department
spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

He said that the United States "supports the territorial
integrity" of Indonesia and added that "effective implementation
of any written agreement will be key to achieving a lasting peace
in Aceh."