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.