JSC sends more monitors as GAM vows to pursue peace

Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Eighteen more members of the team monitoring the cease-fire agreement with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were sent to Aceh on Tuesday, while a GAM spokesman said the secessionist group had held a meeting in support of the peace deal over the weekend.

Following Tuesday's addition, 90 peace monitors working in several teams will soon spread across the province, with a total of 150 members expected to join the teams.

The monitoring teams will assist the Joint Security Committee (JSC) in implementing the peace agreement signed on Dec. 9, 2002. Team members and the JSC itself consist of representatives from the government, GAM and the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC), a Swiss- based non-governmental organization that has facilitated the peace talks over the past two years.

"The 18 new members will be stationed in East Aceh and South Aceh," HDC public information manager Fahmi Yunus said.

The monitoring team's main job is to observe the security situation across the province and report its results to the JSC in Banda Aceh.

They will also investigate reports of violations of the cease- fire agreement. HDC has said that 28 cases of reported violence topped the team's priority list.

Based on their own reports, as well as on those from the public and other sources, the JSC is to issue a weekly report.

Fahmi said the new members had undergone a one-week training program in the province's capital city of Banda Aceh, and were the second deployment since the initial group arrived on Dec. 28 last year.

So far, the teams have been stationed across eight regions, including Bireun, Greater Aceh and Piddie, where most of the fighting took place in the past.

Fahmi also mentioned that a team, consisting of 12 members, would be stationed in South Aceh, with another in East Aceh.

International observers from the Philippines and Thailand, who are representing the HDC, have also joined the monitoring teams.

The peace deal signed in December 2002 marked the best opportunity thus far of bringing peace to Aceh, where GAM had staged a 26-year war for independence.

Previous cease-fire agreements had faltered due to a lack of enforcement, and analysts have said the initial months of this deal were critical in ensuring the continuity of the peace.

Sporadic violence continued to crop up in the first few weeks after the signing, but the frequency has fallen considerably. According to the HDC, the number of civilian fatalities fell from an average of 87 people per month prior to the signing, to 11 fatalities per month after the peace deal.

"This is a sign of readiness from both sides to stop the violence," said David Gorman, HDC project manager in Aceh.

Another positive sign was GAM's holding its first major meeting to support the cease-fire agreement with the Indonesian government.

Around 2,500 GAM officials across Aceh attended the weekend meeting which was headed by the group's military chief Muzakkir Manaf, AFP reported, quoting GAM spokesman Sofyan Dawood.

Muzakkir formed a GAM military police force to "carry out stern measures in response to any misconduct by GAM soldiers against Indonesian institutions or civilians," said Dawood.

He added that the meeting, which was guarded by hundreds of GAM soldiers, went "successfully and safely."

The occasion also marked Muzakkir's first major meeting since he became the GAM military chief, replacing Abdullah Syafii who died in an ambush by Indonesian forces last year, Dawood said.

Intelligence sources added that GAM also replaced several posts in its organization during the meeting, appointing Kamaruddin as its new deputy military chief, Maad Muda as its minister of education, and Teungku Abdul Jeunib as its treasurer.

Elsewhere, Indonesia's chief negotiator Wiryono Sastrohandoyo met with 406 subdistrict heads on Tuesday as part of a campaign to spread the contents of the peace agreement.

The first two months following the signing allow both sides to monitor each other's compliance to the cease-fire agreement. After this period, GAM is to start collecting its weapons for storing in warehouses. At the same time, the Indonesian Military (TNI) is to relocate its units to defensive positions.

GAM soldiers have already begun recalling troops to their bases, with others returning as civilians to their home villages.