GAM to comply with disarmament
Ibnu Matnoor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh
The Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) pledged on Saturday to uphold the cease-fire agreement as the peace process in the province starts a promising new phase on Sunday.
The peace agreement signed on Dec. 9 last year in Geneva stipulates a phase of demilitarization, in which GAM will begin to lay down arms at designated sites beginning on Sunday, while the TNI troops will move back to their barracks. This stage is expected to last five months.
"We are ready to keep our weapons at places monitored by the Henry Dunant Centre provided that the TNI and Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police stop attacking us and withdraw their troops to official bases. We don't want to be fooled by the Indonesians again," GAM spokesman Tengku Sofyan Dawood said, referring to a series of broken promises by Jakarta dating back to the 1950s.
Successful demilitarization, which follows the current two- month confidence building stage, will lead to reconstruction of the natural resource-rich region, which has been wrecked by almost three decades of war. The World Bank, and others have pledged financial aid for the program, which covers both economic and social rehabilitation.
The first of several demilitarized peace zones, Indrapuri, was established on Jan. 26, marking the start of the demilitarization period. Also on Sunday, eight new peace zones will be declared. Both sides hope to have similar areas in all 20 regencies and mayoralties.
Both GAM and TNI are banned from carrying weapons in peace zones.
The TNI, meanwhile, promised it would do its part to maintain peace by refraining from any attacks on GAM.
"We will honor the peace deal, in which we cannot search for the arms laid down by GAM," local military spokesman Lt. Col. Firdaus Komarno avowed.
However, Firdaus, quickly insisted that there would be no withdrawal of troops to official bases, unless there was a direct order from Jakarta.
"The most important thing is that we will not launch attacks on GAM. We don't think the presence of security posts outside official bases is a big deal," he said, referring to the dozens of TNI posts throughout the province, that will have to be abandoned.
Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) director Martin Griffiths arrived in Banda Aceh on Saturday to observe the preparations for the demilitarization of the province.
"I hope the people will not dramatize the demilitarization tomorrow (Sunday) as it is only an initial part of the program," Griffiths said upon his arrival at Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport.
He noted, however, that despite the favorable climate in Aceh following the signing of the peace deal, extortion and other crimes were still rampant in Indonesia's westernmost province.
"The council has been trying to combat the crimes," he said in a reference to the tripartite Joint Security Committee (JSC) consisting of GAM, TNI and HDC representatives.
The pledge to uphold peace was marred, however by the discovery on Friday of two dead civilians. The two men shot dead were identified as Nawi Amin, an employee at a state fertilizer company, and Mukhlis Andia, a resident of Durian Rampak Susoh village in South Aceh.