JSC to start probing peace violations
Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
The joint committee in charge of monitoring a cease-fire deal between the government and separatists in Aceh said on Friday that it would start probing violations of the agreement, starting with an ambush last week that killed two soldiers.
The Joint Security Committee (JSC) will begin its probe with serious cases of violations to the peace agreement, said a member of the committee from the Henry Dunant Centre.
"We admit that a lot of minor incidents have happened since the peace agreement was signed, and that is normal in a conflict. So priority will be given to the big cases," the centre's project manager, David Gorman, said in a news conference.
Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed the peace agreement on Dec. 9 under the auspices of the Swiss-based centre.
The JSC was set up to monitor its implementation with the help of a monitoring team comprising representatives from Indonesia, GAM and foreign observers appointed by the centre.
Indonesia and GAM's negotiators have warned of such skirmishes as both sides were seen blaming each other for provoking violence or breaching the cease-fire agreement.
An investigation into the reports of violations and sanctioning those responsible is seen as necessary to discipline government and rebel troops to respect the cease-fire agreement.
So far 14 have died in bloodshed based on reports over the past three weeks.
Gorman said the deaths of two members of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) were one of JSC's priorities.
The two soldiers were killed last week in an ambush by an unidentified armed group in Manggamat, South Aceh. The Indonesian Military (TNI) blamed GAM for the attack, however the rebel group has made no response to the charges.
Another priority case is the killing last week of a police officer from the National Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) in Bireun, South Aceh, said Lt. Col. Embu Akapitus, who is a member of the Indonesian team on the JSC.
Embu said his team had received 124 reports of violations made to the peace agreement.
Gorman added the JSC would start sending out its monitoring members on Saturday to oversee Aceh's security.
"Sending out the monitoring team is an important step in ending the hostilities," he explained. "They will operate all over Aceh."
Representatives of the government, GAM and the centre each make up one-third of the 150-member monitoring team.
The strife-torn province is reeling from more than two decades of war since GAM began fighting for the independence of the natural resources-rich province in 1976.
More than 10,000 have died in clashes or violence with most of the victims being civilians.
In Manila, Philippines President Gloria Arroyo protested GAM's demand that the Filipino delegation be withdrawn over charges it was biased toward the rebels.
She was responding to GAM negotiator Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba's accusations that Filipinos on the monitoring team were biased since their government was waging a war against Muslim rebels.
"We are emphasizing that we were invited there on the basis of our being neutral and that is a very accurate assumption," the president's spokesman, Rigoberto Tiglao, told AFP.
Tiglao rejected GAM's demand that the Filipinos be replaced by a team from Norway or Brunei. He said Filipino monitors were "not really withdrawing," but added that there was a plan "to reduce the number of participants anyway".
A Filipino general and officers from Thailand are members of the monitoring team, representing the centre's appointed observers.