HDC close to setting new date for Aceh talks

HDC close to setting new date for Aceh talks

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Aceh peace facilitator, the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC), is now
trying to set a new date and venue for peace talks between the
government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), after the former
pulled out of a planned Joint Council meeting in Geneva last
week.

HDC representative David Gorman said at a press conference in
Banda Aceh on Tuesday that he hoped to set a date within the next
few days.

"Everybody wants the meeting (to happen) as soon as possible,"
Gorman was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

In Jakarta, legislators urged the government to initiate a
peace dialog with the rebels in a bid to salvage the fragile
peace in the troubled province.

Thai General Tanongsuk Tuvinun, who heads the Joint Security
Committee (JSC), told Acehnese on Tuesday to ignore rumors of an
impending military operation in the province, where 26 years of
armed conflict had killed over 10,000 people, mostly civilians.

"Spreading rumors can kill the peace process and the hope of
the Acehnese to live in peace," Tanongsuk said, urging both
parties to avoid provocative actions.

The JSC is in charge of monitoring the implementation of the
Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) signed in Geneva,
Switzerland, on Dec. 9.

The government angrily withdrew from the long-awaited peace
talks last Thursday after the rebels insisted on holding the
meeting on April 27 instead of April 25, as it had proposed
earlier.

On Monday, the government gave GAM a two-week ultimatum to
accept the special autonomy arrangement for the province and
disarm, or face the full brunt of military prowess.

Jakarta also said it would not make the first move to initiate
dialog and left it entirely up to GAM to call a meeting to save
the accord.

While endorsing the government's two-week ultimatum,
legislators urged the government on Tuesday to take the lead in
organizing a dialog with GAM rebels.

Ibrahim Ambong, chairman of the House of Representatives (DPR)
Commission I for defense, called on the government to extend the
deadline if the security condition in the province improved.

Ambong, a member of the Golkar faction, said that the deadline
set by the government was important, because it provided a clear
timeframe for resolving Aceh's problems.

He suggested that the government should continue the peace
process as mandated in a decree issued by the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Commission member Imam Addaruqutni of the Reform faction said
the two-week deadline should be contextualized within the peace
process.

"Therefore, military operations should not automatically be
launched after the deadline, if GAM does not respond," he told
The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Noted Acehnese figure Imam Suja' said that he was expecting
the HDC to continue lobbying the government and GAM to reschedule
the Joint Council meeting.

"Everything must be brought to the Joint Council meeting.
There will be no problems if the government and GAM follow the
COHA," Suja' told the Post by phone.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights
(Komnas HAM) Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara commented that the
government should focus on a peace dialog to settle Aceh's
problems.

He added that law enforcement operations in Aceh would be
considered normal, because Aceh was part of the Indonesian
territory, and that it should combat crimes committed by all
Indonesian people, including GAM members.

Separately, Assembly Speaker Amien Rais said the government
could ignore the MPR decree if the existence of the unitary
republic of Indonesia was threatened.

Amien, who chairs the National Mandate Party (PAN), emphasized
that the existence of the republic was of greater importance than
the MPR decree or the 1945 Constitution.

"This is an objective choice and is universally accepted,"
Amien said.