Giving peace a chance to take root in Aceh

Giving peace a chance to take root in Aceh

Martin Griffiths, Director, Henry Dunant Centre
for Humanitarian Dialog Geneve

On Sundays at the beach in Lampu near Banda Aceh, young
couples stroll across the sand holding hands, laughing and
flirting. Children frolic in the surf and sit on its foamy edge
building sand castles. Families picnic. Games of football and
volleyball seemingly break out spontaneously across the mile-long
stretch of sand. Until eight weeks ago, the beach -- Free Aceh
Movement (GAM)-held territory and tacitly off-limits -- had been
nearly empty for years.

In the cities, the towns, the kampongs, people can be seen
along the streets and in the cafes socializing late into the
night -- more activities that people have been, for years, afraid
to risk.

Take a look around Aceh -- at the smiles on people's faces,
the rice farmers knee-deep in their paddies, the general air of
relief and optimism -- and you might not realize that this place
has seen almost three decades of bloody conflict, that in the
last two years alone an estimated 4,000 people, mostly civilians,
have been killed.

For the first time in years, people are beginning to openly
criticize, to find their voice.

Surely, good signs of peace breaking out.

This is what I saw on my first trip to Aceh since the peace
agreement was signed Dec. 9.

While I was in Aceh, I met with the leadership of both the
government of Indonesia and GAM and both parties expressed their
commitment to the peace talks.

Both parties realize that there is no military solution, that
armed struggle is not the answer. Both parties agree that moving
toward democracy and development is a better way. Both parties
recognized there would be problems and there have been. Both
parties expressed to me their dedication to solve those problems.

No one imagined the peace process would be so successful, so
quickly -- bringing an end to hostilities and making life safe
for the people of Aceh. And, certainly, no one wants to go back
to the way things were only two months ago.

That's the difference two months can make. Peace in Aceh is
far from a done deal but the situation has improved so
dramatically in such a short space of time that it's easy to
forget that there's a peace process going on -- a very fragile
peace process that needs to be very carefully nurtured.

But no one should forget, not in the dense rainforests and
coffee plantations of Aceh, not in the halls of government in
Jakarta, not anywhere. The month before the Indonesian government
and GAM agreed to sit down at a table and work out their
differences, more than 200 people died as a result of the
conflict.

Just over two months ago, the government and GAM signed the
Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) in Geneva. It is
important to understand that it is exactly what it says -- an
agreement to stop fighting and a framework to negotiate peace. It
is important to understand that this is just the beginning, that
the end requires hard work and the collective will to make it
succeed.

The COHA, as the agreement is called, is meant to create the
space and the environment for peace, and, so far, it has worked
remarkably well. But there is no quick fix. We must not put the
end-game first. Peace processes take time, understanding,
compromise and patience. Peace processes require that the parties
negotiating them want peace and are willing to work together,
despite their differences, to reach a common goal.

And, yes, peace processes require optimism and hope. They
require support and advocacy. They need to be allowed the
breathing space to flourish.

Above all, peace processes require that the parties involved
maintain their eye on the prize -- that a peaceful Aceh benefits
every Indonesian. It demonstrates that there are ways to solve
differences other than with the gun. It demonstrates that both
the government and GAM possess the courage and the foresight to
see the economic and strategic benefits -- the "peace dividends"
-- of solution through dialog.

The international community recognizes this and they are
pledging economic support to bolster the peace process.

The peace process demands perspective. Yes, there have been
isolated outbreaks of violence. There have been armed clashes and
people are still getting killed because of the conflict. But the
armed clashes, the deaths are a tiny fraction of what they were
just two months ago.

They will likely continue to take place. No one could possibly
expect that the residual effects of nearly three decades of
conflict would evaporate overnight. On the other hand, who would
have thought two months ago that a week could pass in Aceh
without an armed clash? Without a conflict-related death? That
has happened several times and that is progress no one can deny.

As a result, expectations are high and they should be. Given
the dramatic improvements in Aceh, the COHA may seem like a magic
elixir but it's not. There is no such thing.

The demilitarization phase over the next five months is the
agreement's toughest test yet but both sides are working hard to
make it meaningful.

The Joint Security Committee (JSC), the body created to
negotiate peace, is a guiding hand but it is not a government.

The JSC and the COHA are only as strong as the sum of its
parts -- and the will of the government, GAM and the people of
Aceh to make real peace a reality.