EU welcomes peace deal implementation

EU welcomes peace deal implementation

JAKARTA: The 25-member European Union welcomed on Thursday the
start of the formal implementation of the peace agreement in
Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, and highlighted the support that the EU
and five members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) were providing through the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM),
the British foreign minister said.

Britain currently holds the EU presidency.

"As the presidency of the EU, I warmly welcome the start of
formal implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed
between the government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement in
Helsinki on 15 August," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said
in a press release, which was sent to The Jakarta Post by the
British Embassy in Jakarta on Thursday.

The peaceful settlement of the internal conflict in Aceh,
according to Straw, will be of great benefit to Indonesia and the
people of Aceh, as well as providing a very positive example
regionally and internationally. "It will greatly assist in the
reconstruction and rehabilitation of Aceh following the tragic
tsunami there last December."

The release said the launch of a peace mission in Aceh would
mark a new departure for European Security and Defense Policy.

"This will be its first mission in Asia, its first in
cooperation with ASEAN partners, and its first to carry out
monitoring of this kind," Straw said. -- JP