Govt anti-GAM team arrives in Sweden

Govt anti-GAM team arrives in Sweden

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Members of an Indonesian government team arrived in Stockholm on
Monday to present evidence to the Swedish government against the
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders living in the country.

The team, led by former foreign minister Ali Alatas, is slated
to meet with high-ranking officials, including Swedish Prime
Minister Goran Persson.

"My Swedish counterpart has called me and expressed gratitude
over our decision to send the team. They also promised to welcome
the team and try to arrange a meeting with Prime Minister Goran
Persson," Minister for Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on
Monday.

The minister further said that the government expected a
positive response from Sweden as Jakarta was trying to present
evidence showing that GAM leaders in Sweden were responsible for
an armed rebellion and various terror attacks in the country.

GAM top leaders including Hasan Tiro, Malik Mahmood and Zaini
Abdullah have been living in Sweden for years.

The Indonesian government has been pressuring Sweden to take
legal action against GAM leaders in the country.

Sweden, however, said that they could not do anything against
Swedish citizens who had not violated any law in the country.

To convince Sweden, the team is bringing along several
documents against the GAM leaders, including faxes, e-mails and
written daily orders to commanders in Aceh, especially in
provoking clashes in the province.

Hassan said that the government was not asking that they be
extradited, but merely asked that possible legal measures be
taken against them.

"We ask that legal sanctions be taken against these men. The
Swedish government, for example, could take appropriate measures
to prevent them from leading the separatist movement here," he
said.

To support the ongoing military operation against GAM in the
province, Hassan said that his office was preparing a draft
resolution to the United Nations to include GAM in the UN's list
of terrorist groups.

He said that the draft would be inserted in Indonesia's coming
periodical report to the UN Counter Terrorism Committee (CTC).

The minister was upbeat that GAM qualified, especially after
CTC included the separatist movement in Sri Lanka, the Tamil
Tigers, in the list.