Govt opens up new chance for Aceh talks

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has opened up a new chance for a peaceful solution to the Aceh question by giving the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) two weeks to accept the special autonomy status and disarm itself.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said here on Monday that the government would wait for the rebels to initiate peace talks.

"Peace talks can continue only if GAM explicitly accepts the special autonomy arrangement and guarantees that it will surrender its weapons," Susilo said after a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"We will see in the next one to two weeks whether we can still save the peace deal or whether it is no longer effective and we will have to launch all-out security operations in the province," he said.

The government decided to pull out of a long-awaited Joint Council meeting last Thursday after the secessionist movement insisted on holding the meeting on April 27, instead of April 25 as it proposed earlier.

GAM, which has been fighting for independence for the resource-rich province of Aceh, has resorted to delay tactics in dealing with the Aceh question.

The government had requested an April 25 meeting to discuss various violations of a peace deal signed on Dec. 9 last year.

The government had wanted the meeting to be held as soon as possible in Indonesia, but GAM wanted it in Tokyo, Japan, where international donors met last year to mobilize funds to rebuild devastated Aceh.

Later GAM changed its mind and insisted on holding the meeting on April 25 in Geneva, Switzerland, the only place it claimed was neutral ground.

As the meeting date drew near, GAM said that the Joint Council meeting would be held on April 27, instead of April 25, and continued to stand its ground until April 24, prompting the government to pull out of the meeting.

Susilo said on Monday that the government was giving GAM another chance to negotiate but at the same time spelled out tough conditions for the talks to resume.

GAM spokesman Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, however, brushed aside the conditions, saying that the movement would not put down its weapons until the security apparatus there eased their offensive position against the rebels.

He also refused to initiate peace talks, arguing that it was the government that canceled last week's meeting, so it bore the responsibility to suggest another one.

"We choose to wait and see whether the government is willing to initiate further peace talks with us," Sofyan told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

While waiting for GAM's official response to the conditions, Susilo said, the government would intensify law enforcement operations in Aceh and place troops on high alert for military operations.

"A law enforcement operation has to be immediately conducted with intensity including responding to the armed separatist movement as a threat to the security of the nation which needs to be severely punished. We'll also act on civilians who should not be carrying weapons," Susilo said.

"The Indonesian Military (TNI) will be put on alert and prepare itself should we need to launch security operations in case the situation there worsens," he continued.

TNI Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said in the same press conference that government soldiers would be waiting for the government's order should GAM refuse to use the chance to save the deal.

Authorities said earlier that 1,300 marine troops and 6,000 Mobile Brigade members were on stand by for military operations in Aceh, where bloody conflicts had killed more than 10,000 people since 1976.

Earlier on Monday, Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Yutaka Limura met Vice President Hamzah Haz to stress that donor countries expected to see peace in the province as they had pledged funds for post-war reconstruction work in the province.

A source at Hamzah's office told the Post that Japan, on behalf of the United States, the European Union, and other donor countries and agencies, asked for peace to return to the province.

Commenting on the demand, Susilo said it was entirely up to GAM to decide whether or not to proceed with the peace agreement.

"We have done everything and I think we have done enough to maintain the peace deal, that is why we will concentrate more on a comprehensive solution for the province to save the lives of the Acehnese people," he said.