GAM told to hand over 142 weapons

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: Before Dec. 26, Free Aceh Movement should have handed over 142 weapons to the Aceh Monitoring Mission as required under the Helsinki peace deal between the Indonesian government and GAM, a monitoring official said on Friday.

According to figures from the AMM, GAM has so far handed over 856 weapons of various types, said Kirsten Mogensen, spokeswoman for the AMM. The fourth round of GAM disarmament would be held between Dec. 14 and Dec. 17 in Southeast Aceh regency.

In return for GAM disarmament, the Indonesian government has promised to pull out 25,221 military and 4,700 police personnel. In fact, many of these troops have already been withdrawn from Aceh.

The Helsinki peace deal was forged on Aug. 15 in Helsinki, Finland to end almost 30 years of bloody armed conflict in the province. -- JP