Government to issue new policy on Aceh

Government to issue new policy on Aceh

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government will evaluate the viability of the current
security policy in Aceh before issuing a presidential decree to
change the current status of civilian order in the troubled
province, a top official said on Monday.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the evaluation was partly in
response to calls from civilian politicians for the declaration
of a military emergency to stop the separatist movement in Aceh.

"The government will be evaluating its policies in Aceh within
the next three weeks .... There will be a new policy," he said
after speaking at a workshop on integrated responses to regional
conflicts.

The statement comes after the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
reaffirmed its commitment to peace talks with Jakarta.

In a press release issued from his home in Stockholm, GAM
chief negotiator Zaini Abdullah called on Jakarta to respect an
agreement signed in May in Geneva, and to allow the Geneva-based
Henry Dunant Center and other international mediators to proceed
quickly to the next steps of the peace initiative.

But Yudhoyono said the recent escalation in violence in the
country's westernmost province showed that GAM was the root of
the problems there.

He said that whatever the government's new policy, it had to
comply with the law and be supported by all parties, including
the international community.

Although he said the current integrated policy in Aceh, which
includes rebuilding the economy and improving people's welfare,
was better than a military approach, Yudhoyono asserted that
"without hurting the people, GAM should be stopped".

This may be accomplished without sending in more troops, he
said, but by increasing intelligence operations and restoring
ties with the Acehnese.

The Army's Special Force (Kopassus) reportedly began an
intelligence operation in Aceh last Wednesday, while local people
say the current situation in the province resembles the decade of
harsh military operations between 1989 and 1998.