Govt, GAM take stock of truce

Govt, GAM take stock of truce

GENEVA (Agencies): Indonesian government representatives and separatist rebels from Aceh met in secret near Geneva Saturday to take stock of a two-month-old "humanitarian pause" agreed between the two sides to try to end violence in the restive province, officials said.

The meeting was to evaluate the results of work by two committees on the island, made up of representatives of both sides, who have been observing security and humanitarian aspects of the truce in force since June 2.

Each side accuses the other of violating the truce. Three weeks after it was introduced 34 people had been killed and 72 others injured in different incidents around Aceh.

And two months on, 50,000 have fled their homes seeking refuge in mosques and other public sites.

President Abdurrahman Wahid has proposed prolonging the unprecedented truce, which came into effect June 2 after negotiations between the two sides in Geneva.

"We want to extend the truce, but we have to know first the position of the Indonesian government, whether they will change their attitude by abiding by the agreement or not," Zaini Abdullah, a Stockholm-based Free Aceh Movement representative, said on the eve of the meeting Friday.

The government signed the truce accord with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which has been fighting for an independent state for more than two decades, on May 12 in Switzerland.

Saturday's closed-door meeting, which began at 11.45 a.m. (0945 GMT) in a secret location, could go on into Sunday, officials said.

The meeting is the second to take place in Geneva since the ceasefire, officially called a "humanitarian pause", went into force.

The first meeting, which was not publicized, took place at the end of June.