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.