Govt, GAM cautiously optimistic before talks

Govt, GAM cautiously optimistic before talks

Agencies, Helsinki, Jakarta

Representatives from the government and Aceh separatists
expressed cautious optimism ahead of a third round of peace talks
in Helsinki this week aimed at ending a drawn-out conflict that
so far has killed more than 12,000 people.

"Our expectation is that we will achieve something
positive ... We are cautiously optimistic about the outcome of
the negotiations," the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)'s Stockholm-based
spokesman, Bakhtiar Abdullah, told AFP.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla also said he was hopeful the talks
next week would lead the peace process forward. "If all substance
can be moved and then principally agreed, we hope in July we can
finalize the whole principle of the agreement," he said in an
interview with the South China Morning Post published on
Saturday.

Like the two previous rounds of talks in January and February,
the discussions, which are scheduled to get underway on Tuesday,
will take place at the Koeningstedt estate outside Helsinki, and
will be mediated by former Finnish president and career diplomat
Martti Ahtisaari.

Although the second round of talks ended on a positive note
with both sides reporting that progress had been made towards an
agreement on a special autonomy for the region, events on the
ground appear to have clouded the horizon.

"This is going to be tough. We are facing a number of
stumbling blocks," Abdullah said, pointing out that fighting has
continued despite pledges from both sides to "try to refrain from
hostilities".

The Indonesian army has admitted to killing more than 260
rebels since the tsunami ravaged Aceh on Dec. 26.

"It is of great importance that all violence should cease on
both sides ... Without this it is very difficult to talk,"
Abdullah said, insisting that "we are on the receiving end (and)
have been forced to retaliate".

Meeri-Mariia Jaarva of Ahtisaari's Crisis Management
Initiative (CMI), which is organizing the talks, acknowledged
that the situation on the ground "is probably putting more
pressure on the parties".

"We are pleased that both sides have agreed to continue the
process of negotiations, but as the conflict has been going on
for such a long time, and there are many difficult issues to be
settled, one should remain realistic about the outcome of the
talks," she said.

While the first two rounds of negotiations lasted only a few
days each, the third round is scheduled to go on for six full
days to allow the parties time to flesh out the details and a
timetable for proposals concerning things like special autonomy,
security arrangements, economic relations, amnesty and outside
monitoring, according to Jaarva.

One issue that will not be on the table is GAM's continued
demand of full independence, something Jakarta has said is
unacceptable.

"Our position is clear that the only solution to the Aceh
conflict is special autonomy and that GAM should return to the
fold of the unitary state of Indonesia," said Demak Lubis, head
of the Aceh desk at Indonesia's security ministry.

But although GAM did not mention its claim of full
independence during the second round of talks, Abdullah insists
that the demand still stands.

"Independence is still not on the table, since there would be
no negotiations if it was, but this does not mean that we will
stop our main struggle, which is for independence," he said.

The GAM accused Indonesia's military of stepping up their
campaign in Aceh, a charge that underlines the obstacles to peace
ahead of the third round of talks.

"The Indonesian military are increasing their numbers and
killing more and more of our people," Abdullah Zaini, a GAM
negotiator living in exile in Sweden, was quoted by AP as saying
late Saturday. "That is against the spirit of the negotiations,
that is what we do not understand."

An Indonesian army spokesman denied that troop numbers were
being increased, but said that military operations against the
rebels were ongoing in the oil and gas-rich province.