Govt, HDC upbeat Aceh talks will yield peace deal
Agencies Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri expressed optimism that the government would sign a peace accord with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) during their meeting in Geneva on Oct. 31, to end the conflict that has claimed the lives of thousands of people, mostly civilians.
There have been positive signals that a solution to the Aceh problem may be reached in the next round of talks, she said during an overnight stopover in Athens, Greek, en route to attend the APEC summit in Mexico.
"Perhaps, they (GAM) are ready (to resolve the conflict) through dialog, instead of through violence," Megawati said on Wednesday night local time (Thursday in Jakarta).
She said the government had set the end of the Ramadhan fasting month, which starts on Nov. 6, as the deadline to settle the Aceh problem through peace talks.
Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh said on Wednesday the talks would resume in Geneva on Oct. 31 or Nov. 1. under the auspices of the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC) that has organized the dialogs since January 2000.
However, both GAM and HDC said that no exact date had been set for the new round of peace talks.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono echoed on Thursday Megawati's optimism that a peace pact on Aceh would be signed in the next meeting.
"If there are no obstacles, in the near future I hope at the end of the month a peace agreement can be signed," Susilo said after a meeting with Puteh and Aceh district chiefs in Jakarta.
He said an agreement in Geneva would herald a full peace deal based on the wide-ranging autonomy law for Aceh issued last year.
"If this can take place, it will mean that Aceh will enter a new chapter, a new era that we have all long awaited," the minister said.
The law grants Aceh a greater share of its extensive oil and gas revenues and allows it to implement sharia law.
HDC director Martin Griffiths, who made a visit to Aceh this month, said he also was confident the upcoming peace talks would yield an agreement and that the deal could be struck before Ramadhan.
"The dialogue process which began in January 2000 has never before had the energy and the commitment from both sides that we see today," Griffiths said recently.
Previous cease-fire deals have always broken down with each side accusing the other of bad faith.
At their last talks in May the two sides agreed to hold a "democratic all-inclusive dialog" based on the autonomy law and to set up measures to implement a cease-fire.
But, bloodshed has continued since then in the resource-rich province. A middle-aged couple shot dead by gunmen were the latest victims of violence there, the local military said on Thursday.
Some 10 unidentified gunmen murdered Hasan Basri, 50, and his wife Rosmawati, 45, at their home in the Idi Rayeuk area of East Aceh district on Tuesday, said provincial military spokesman Major Zaenal Mutaqin.
He blamed the killings on GAM, which has been fighting for an independent state since 1976.
In a separate incident, two armed men torched a van carrying thousands of copies of the Banda Aceh-based Serambi daily newspaper in North Aceh on Thursday, witnesses said. Another van from the paper was set alight on Tuesday.
Local residents said the gunmen were known by locals as GAM members who had reportedly criticized the newspaper for its stance against them.
A total of nine newspaper delivery vans have been burnt by unknown groups in Aceh in the past three years. The Serambi was forced to close down for about two weeks in August last year after threats from rebels over its reporting.