Govt plans to organize new round of peace talks for Aceh

Govt plans to organize new round of peace talks for Aceh

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government plans to facilitate new peace talks that will
include all parties in Aceh. This comes after a series of dialogs
with rebel groups failed to live up to the aspirations of the
majority in the province.

The proposed talks, which officials suggest would be similar
to the Malino talks that helped calm the Poso and Maluku
conflicts, correspond to terms agreed upon during the recent
Geneva talks between Aceh rebel and government negotiators.

The latest talks, sponsored by the Swiss-based Henry Dunant
Center (HDC), on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3 left the future of
negotiations to both Indonesia and representatives of the Free
Aceh Movement (GAM).

One of four prominent points agreed in the meeting stipulated
that both parties would hold all-inclusive and transparent
political dialog for Aceh between 2002 and 2003.

The two parties also agreed to support the cessation of
hostilities and all acts of violence in 2002.

Another point resulting from the recent talks is the plan to
establish a democratically elected government in Aceh through
free and fair elections in May 2004.

Officials however have never formally stated that the newly
proposed talks are part of the process agreed upon in Geneva.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Tuesday the government would
emulate the model of peace agreement between rival groups in the
Central Sulawesi town of Poso and Maluku in a bid to settle
decades of separatism waged by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"The government pledges to make a breakthrough in reaching a
peace deal. The concept does not necessarily mean the same as
what we have done for people in both Poso and Maluku, of course,
but it has to be able to stop the violence so that we can develop
a better future for the people of Aceh," Susilo told the media
conference after hosting a meeting on political and security
affairs.

He was referring to the government-sponsored peace agreements
known as Malino Declaration I related to the conflict in Poso and
Malino Declaration II that is concerned with the conflict in
Maluku. The two territories were hit by sectarian conflict
between Muslims and Christians.

Susilo claimed that such a model of peace talks had been
raised by some religious leaders in Aceh.

He, nevertheless, refused to go into detail, saying that the
draft of the new peace arrangement in Aceh remained incomplete.

"All talks regarding Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province must be
held in a frame of the unitary state of the Republic of
Indonesia," he stressed.

Despite the new developments, violence remains commonplace in
Aceh.

At least 26 people have been killed in skirmishes between
security officers and Aceh rebels since Sunday.

Spokesman for the military operation and security command Maj.
Zaenal Mustaqin said a Marine officer, Private Susandi, was
killed in an attack by a rebel group in Bantayan village in East
Aceh on Sunday.

In a series of raids on GAM bases in East Aceh, North Aceh and
Pidie between Sunday and Monday, military troops shot dead at
least 10 rebels.

A GAM spokesman, Amri Abdul Wahab, claimed there was only one
casualty on his side during the armed clashes.