Govt opens up new chance for Aceh talks

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.