GAM won't disclose names of former rebels: Official

The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has decided not to submit a list of names of some 3,000 former GAM fighters as requested by the Indonesian government as part of efforts to accelerate the reintegration process of the ex-rebels into the society.

"GAM has made a decision not to surrender the names (of former GAM fighters)," said M. Nur Djuli, a representative of GAM with the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), as quoted by Antara on Wednesday.

He did not provide a reason.

The AMM, which groups peace monitors from the European Union and some member countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), is tasked to supervise and monitor the implementation of the Aug. 15 peace accord between the government of Indonesia and GAM.

The Indonesian representative within the AMM, Maj. Gen. Bambang Darmono was quoted earlier by the press as saying that GAM should disclose the names of some 3,000 former members to speed up the reintegration process.

He argued that the disclosure of the names of the former GAM members was crucial since they would receive economic assistance from the central government to help them settle back into society during the post-conflict period.

He added that submitting the names of the former GAM members was also an important step in enhancing the confidence-building process between the Indonesian government and GAM.

Asked to comment on lingering concerns that revealing the names of the former GAM members would endanger their lives once they went back into society as civilians, Bambang said: "Please don't think that way. Think of the positive side that this (peace agreement) will not fail. What is in front of us is a good situation for a much better future. That is why we need to enhance trust between us so that there will be no problems."

Under the peace agreement, signed in Helsinki, GAM dropped its long-held demand for independence in exchange for a form of local government in Aceh, a province of about four million people. GAM also agreed to disarm, while the government agreed to withdraw a large portion of its military and police troops from the province.

Following the recent completion of the second of four phases of troop withdrawal and GAM decommissioning, the AMM said that both sides had decided to accelerate the process by committing to complete the third phase on Nov. 14.

Each of the four phases was scheduled to start in the middle of each month. But the third phase will now be completed around Nov. 14, the AMM said in a statement.