Government suspends RI-GAM joint committee
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government has decided to suspend the joint committee on security modalities it had set up with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) until such time as GAM presents its commander Abdullah Syafi'i at the negotiating table and gives security assurances for ExxonMobil's gas installations in Aceh.
Indonesia's top negotiator Hassan Wirayuda said on Thursday that the decision was taken following two days of peace talks with GAM in Geneva over the weekend.
"We urged GAM to include Abdullah Syafi'i as a display of their good faith in upholding the present security arrangements. So far, they have been unable to meet the demand, citing political reasons," Hassan told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
"We also demanded that GAM publicly announce that they would guarantee the security of ExxonMobil Oil Indonesia, but they could not see their way to meeting this request either. So we decided to put the joint committee on security modalities on ice for a while," Hassan said.
The decision will deal GAM a further blow as it comes at the same time that Indonesian security forces are moving to restore law and order, thereby pushing GAM onto the ropes, added Hassan, the foreign ministry's director general of political affairs, who led the Indonesian delegation.
Hassan also said that the gap between the commander of GAM's military wing and the GAM leaders who live in exile had become the major stumbling block to the efforts to implement the security arrangements in Aceh.
"However, there are some positive signs from GAM because although in Aceh they are feeling the pressure, they are still willing to attend the peace talks and extend the dialog so as to involve other elements in Aceh," Hassan said.
Another positive outcome of the meeting, Hassan added, was GAM's readiness to contribute to the deliberations on the Special Autonomy for Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Bill, which are now underway.
Violence, however, continued on the ground as Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police troops shot on Wednesday a GAM military trainer, Teungku Yusrizal, to death in a raid on the village of Masjid Usi, in Pidie regency.
Spokesman for the Security Restoration Operation Comr. Sudharsono said on Thursday that Yusrizal, a graduate from Libya, had been fugitive for long.
Also on Wednesday, a group of armed people shot dead a 40-year-old woman villager in her residence in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh. (50/51/dja)