Govt urged to attend talks with GAM

Berni K. Moestafa and Febiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As government decision-makers were still mulling over an invitation for peace talks with Acehnese independence negotiators, an Acehnese leader and the government's chief negotiator for Aceh urged the government to revive the stalled peace talks to find peaceful solutions.

Respected Acehnese religious leader Imam Suja' called on both parties to pursue peaceful solutions, and to attend the planned peace talks, sponsored by the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC).

"Let's solve it through dialog. While we are in dialog, let's all refrain from security operations. Let all of us together solve the Aceh problems through dialog," he said.

He hoped that the planned dialog, slated to be held in Geneva in early September, would produce a positive result, so that it would give people hope for peace.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's chief negotiator for Aceh Wiryono Sastrohandoyo expressed confidence that the peace talks would resume next month.

According to Wiryono, most within the government are in favor of dialog. As for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), he said, the rebel group had little choice but to accept Jakarta's autonomy package.

The international community has apparently been requesting GAM to drop its bid for independence, raising hopes for a peaceful solution to the 26-year-old conflict.

"We respect the Acehnese demands for self governance, but that (limited autonomy) will be the final offer from us," Wiryono told The Jakarta Post.

As GAM had confirmed their participation in the planned talks, the government still insisted on Thursday that it would attend the talks only after GAM agreed to base negotiations on its previous deal of accepting autonomy.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he received on Tuesday an invitation from HDC to resume talks but the government was awaiting an answer from GAM following its approval to resume talks.

"We're waiting for an answer ... whether GAM's agreement to resume talks is based on our offer we made in January," Susilo told reporters following a Cabinet meeting.

He was referring to the special autonomy package from Indonesia which was to go into effect Jan. 1, 2002.

According to Susilo, if GAM ignored the deal agreed to in May and insisted on full independence, the government could decline HDC's invitation.

"We must do reconfirmation and clarification in order to avoid Indonesia taking the wrong position later," he said, but added: "what's clear is that Indonesia is still hoping to continue the dialog."

Officials said GAM had provisionally accepted the autonomy offer during the last negotiation round in May. Yet it apparently backed down due to what some said were internal rifts.

Fighting has since continued and bogged down prospects of talks to resume. According to media reports at least 500 have died this year alone, mostly civilians.

On Monday, the government unveiled its new policy for Aceh. It gave GAM a deadline to accept the autonomy package by December, and if it did not, then the government would launch a full military attack to "crush" the independence movement.

The new stance follows almost daily fighting in the oil and gas rich province that has enraged the government. Following a series of kidnappings of civilians in June, Susilo branded GAM for the first time "terrorists" in what was seen as a precursor to more military involvement in Aceh.

Some 22,000 soldiers and 12,000 police members are stationed in Aceh. The TNI has recently requested up to 4,000 more soldiers but the government would likely reject the demand.

Analysts and Acehnese have denounced plans for more military involvement, warning of more atrocities against civilians.

The latest edition of U.S.-based Newsweek magazine on Wednesday described several TNI side businesses in Aceh which included illegal logging, car smuggling, taking over and running coffee plantations and moonlighting as security guards for U.S.- based oil and gas company PT ExxonMobil Indonesia Inc.

According to the magazine ExxonMobil pays the TNI $500,000 a month for the 3,000 soldiers stationed around the facility.