International observers arrive in Aceh to monitor peace plan
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Members of an international team have arrived in Banda Aceh to monitor the proposed cease-fire to end the prolonged conflict that has claimed thousands of lives, as the standoff over the peace deal between the two conflicting sides and military siege drags on.
The Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC), which is mediating the two conflicting sides confirmed on Tuesday that a number of international observers had been in the city to learn about the real situation in the province before they joined the proposed joint team to monitor the cease-fire's implementation.
William Dowell, spokesman for HDC, said the observers would begin their tasks only after the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a 12-point truce deal.
The peace proposal calls for an immediate end to the hostilities. It says both sides, along with a third party, will form a joint committee to monitor security, investigate violations and take appropriate action including pre-arranged sanctions to restore calm when violations occur.
The committee will also publish weekly reports and designate certain schools, mosques and other facilities as demilitarized zones, according to the proposal.
Dowell added that the monitors would be neutral and professional.
The international observers' presence is a result of months of negotiations facilitated by HDC, in which all sides agreed with the establishment of a joint monitoring team representing the government, GAM and the international community.
This is the first time foreign security monitors have been allowed into Aceh. Previous peace talks and agreements reached since 2000 with the help of mediation from HDC have always broken down.
The monitors are arriving as the Indonesian Military continues its siege of GAM headquarters in Cot Trieng, North Aceh in its attempt to pressure GAM into signing the peace agreement immediately.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who stopped over in Medan on his way to Banda Aceh on Tuesday, called on the besieged GAM leaders and rebels to give up and sign the peace deal to avoid any more victims as well as to end the conflict.
He said neither the military or the police could halt the security restoration operation as long as the rebels continued their separatist activities.
"Let's end the conflict by signing the peace agreement for the sake of Acehnese people and the province's better future," he said, adding that his mission in Aceh was to follow up his previous visits in order to revive the peace agreement.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu said GAM's bargaining power had decreased, evidenced by their request to end the war possibly due to a decreasing number of rebel fighters.
"I will go to Aceh to greet the rebels if they surrender," he said after briefing members of the Army's Special Forces unit in Solo, Central Java.
In Banda Aceh, GAM negotiator Teuku Kamaruzzaman condemned the military's siege of the GAM leaders and rebels in North Aceh, saying Indonesia was not serious about the proposed cessation of hostilities.
"We aren't buying time, we have never had a timeline for the signing of the proposed peace agreement," he said.
Asked to comment on the military's offer of amnesty to those surrendering, he said "It is not Indonesia but Aceh which should give amnesty for those who have looted the province's assets and abused Acehnese people's human rights."
Ahmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, was disappointed with the government's policy on Aceh which it made without any consultation with the country's top religious leaders.
According to him, the government had taken the wrong track by accepting HDC intervention, which had supported GAM's attempt to buy time.