Int'l community decries war in Aceh and calls for peace

Int'l community decries war in Aceh and calls for peace

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan led the international
community in asking the Indonesian government and the separatist
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to return to the negotiating table to
restore peace in Aceh.

In a statement issued Monday, Annan said he was "deeply
concerned" about reports of renewed fighting in Aceh with the
imposition of martial law in the province.

"He remains convinced of the need to resolve the problems in
Aceh peacefully, in a manner consistent with the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Indonesia.

"The Secretary-General, therefore, urges all parties concerned
to do their utmost to restore the peace process in Aceh", the
statement said.

The statement also mentioned that Annan was "disappointed"
that, after two days of meetings in Tokyo, the Indonesian
government and GAM failed to reach an agreement to resume
implementation of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA),
which was signed in December 2002.

"Despite setbacks in its implementation, the Agreement had
brought real improvements in the daily life of the population in
Aceh," the statement said.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri declared martial law in Aceh
just hours after peace talks with GAM in Tokyo broke down late
Sunday, paving the way for massive military offensive against
GAM.

The United States also decried the war in Aceh and called on
both the government and GAM to resume negotiations.

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the
Indonesian government and GAM had forfeited a rare opportunity in
Tokyo to advance the peace process.

"It's our judgment that the possible avenues to a peaceful
resolution were not fully explored at the Tokyo conference and
that steps incompatible with a determined approach to
negotiations undermined the process," Boucher was quoted by
Agence France Presse as saying.

Reuters reported that mediators blamed Jakarta for the failed
weekend talks, saying the government came with additional
conditions that made dialogue impossible. Jakarta had insisted
the rebels explicitly give up demands for independence.

Boucher said the U.S. government maintained its support for
the territorial integrity of Indonesia and for the peaceful
resolution of the Aceh conflict based on special autonomy.

However, it said that, "At the same time, it does regard the
problem of Aceh as one that is not amenable to a solution by use
of military force."

Separately, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer also
expected both the government and GAM to go back to the diplomatic
path.

"We hope that it's going to be possible to get back on to the
diplomatic path before too long," Downer said.

Australia, he said, had consistently backed efforts to develop
a special autonomy package for Aceh, which would supposedly
implemented peacefully.

Downer said the U.N. could not become involved in the conflict
as Indonesia had jurisdiction in Aceh.

"What the international community is saying (to the Indonesian
government and GAM) ... is we wish that they would negotiate
this," he said.

Meanwhile, dozens of anti-war activists from more than 30
countries who had a discussion in Jakarta on the global antiwar
movement, regretted the military approach the government had
taken to attempt to solve the Aceh problem.

"We demand the government stop military operations in Aceh
immediately and both parties continue negotiations to salvage the
peace accord," Walden Bello, a delegate from the Philippines,
told a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He expressed his and other activists' fears that the military,
which has a poor record on human rights, would continue to abuse
civilians.

"We question why the government allows this to happen. Is it
something they believe in or is the military pushing the
government to take that decision?" asked Bello, saying the
government and GAM could still restore peace in Aceh.

The conflict in Aceh since GAM took arms in 1976 has taken the
lives of more than 10,000 people, most of whom were civilians.