Govt blames GAM for violence against JSC

Govt blames GAM for violence against JSC

Muninggar Sri Saraswati
and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The government has moved to consult the House of Representatives
(DPR) to decide on immediate action against the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) separatist group, whom it said had sparked fresh
violence in the province.

Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said after a ministerial meeting on Aceh
that GAM's failure to comply with the Cessation of Hostilities
Agreement had resulted in the violence.

Susilo was referring to two recent attacks on offices of the
Joint Security Committee (JSC), whose job it is to monitor the
implementation of the truce, which was signed last December.

"We have been continuously evaluating the situation in Aceh.
If there is a dramatic development, why should we wait until the
end of the demilitarization phase? Our sovereignty is at stake,"
he said.

Citing intelligence reports, witnesses' accounts and a field
investigation, he said that the government believed the
perpetrators of the recent incident in Takengon were GAM members.

"It's interesting to note that the attack was aimed at common
people, instead of the police or military. This has sparked
suspicion that the attack was the work of GAM," he said.

A mob attacked the JSC offices in the Central Aceh town of
Takengon on March 3, injuring two monitors from GAM and the
government. Another attack took place 10 days later, targeting
the JSC offices in the East Aceh town of Langsa, but no injuries
were reported.

The Aceh office of the Commission for Missing Persons and
Victims of Violence (Kontras) had linked the Takengon attack to
the military.

JSC was established by Aceh peace broker the Henry Dunant
Centre, in a bid to monitor the implementation of the
demilitarization phase, which will take place over five months
until July 9. The committee incorporates representatives from
GAM, the government and international monitors.

Susilo said that the government move was out of its obligation
to maintain the unitary state and it did not mean to violate the
truce.

However, Susilo said that the government would give GAM a
chance to settle the conflict.

"It can only happen if all the parties are committed to the
spirit of the truce and GAM does not betray it and there are no
irregularities by GAM," he added.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government is set to launch a
community-based development program in the established peace
zones in Aceh as part of a reconstruction program in the war-torn
province.

Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Yutaka Iimura said after
meeting with President Megawati on Monday that the program would
begin as soon as possible. However, he did not specify a date.

"The community-based development program will start soon, but
we cannot give a time because we are still waiting for a proposal
from the NGOs to support the program," Yutaka said.

The development project is part of the post-war reconstruction
project, supported by 23 countries and international donor
agencies for Aceh.

The program, supported by a US$500 million fund from the
Consultative Group on Indonesia (CGI), began soon after Jakarta
and GAM signed a peace deal in Switzerland on Dec. 9 last year.

"I stress that we continue to support the peace process in
Aceh and the problem should be resolved in the context of the
territorial integrity of the country," the ambassador said.