Govt spells out conditions for talks with GAM

Govt spells out conditions for talks with GAM

Tiarma Siboro and Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has spelled out conditions for the planned Joint
Council meeting with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Geneva, but
emphasized that the terms were non-negotiable.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said here on Wednesday that the special
autonomy status was final for Aceh and GAM had to accept the
arrangement if it wanted to salvage the peace accord signed on
Dec. 9, 2002.

He also stressed that the rebels had to lay down their arms
before government troops and police personnel were moved from
offensive to defensive positions as both agreed on in the
Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA).

"The special autonomy is final and GAM has to accept it. This
is a major point of the peace deal because it is the starting
point for all processes to be carried out within the framework of
the unitary state of Indonesia.

"We (the government) will also not relocate our military and
police personnel unless the rebels disarm themselves. After the
meeting, we will see whether or not they put down their weapons,"
Susilo told a press conference.

The government and GAM agreed to meet in Geneva to discuss the
implementation of COHA on April 25 and 26.

Susilo will lead Indonesia's delegation to the meeting. Senior
diplomat Ali Alatas and peace negotiator Wiryono Sastrohandoyo
will also attend the talks, along with Isaac Latuconsina of the
House of Representative's Commission I for defense and security
affairs.

Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and
the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief A.M. Hendropriyono
are also joining the delegation but "will not attend the
meetings."

"We need the presence of the TNI chief and BIN chief to give
us input on the meeting because we are going to file complaints
against GAM's deviant stances by collecting taxes from people,
installing local officials and recruiting more members since the
signing of COHA in December last year," Susilo said.

Under the special autonomy law introduced on Jan. 1, 2001,
resource-rich Aceh is allowed, among other things, to retain up
to 70 percent of its revenue from oil and gas. The province is
also allowed to introduce Islamic law and set up a sharia court.

In the COHA, GAM, which has been fighting for independence
since 1976, accepted the special autonomy arrangement as a
starting point, and agreed to lay down their weapons in stages
until fully disarming by July 9, 2003. The government, for its
part, agreed to move troops and police from striking positions to
defensive ones. Neither side, however, has made good on their
promises.

The upcoming meeting is also expected to deal with the
violations of the agreement.

According to the COHA, a Joint Council meeting is convened if
the Joint Security Committee, which is tasked with overseeing the
implementation of the peace agreement, fails to handle reported
violations of the agreement. Should the Joint Council meeting
fail to find solutions to those violations, either party may pull
out of the peace agreement.

Susilo said the government would decide 30 days after the
meeting whether to abandon the pact with GAM or stick with it.

"If the conditions continue to worsen after 30 days, the
government can unilaterally say that it is no longer bound by the
COHA," he stated.

He said the other options would not necessarily be a military
operation but declined to elaborate beyond that.

However, on Tuesday, military leaders ordered two battalions
of marines and 6,000 Mobile Brigade police personnel to stand by
for security operations in Aceh if the upcoming meeting hit a
snag.