Govt urged to attend talks with GAM

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.