Ministers off to Finland for talks

Ministers off to Finland for talks

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Three government ministers left Jakarta for Helsinki on Wednesday
to meet Acehnese separatist leaders for peace talks, the first
meeting between the two sides since talks broke down in May 2003.

Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said the government
delegation was now comprised of Coordinating Minister for
Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto,
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin and Minister
of Communications and Information Sofyan Djalil.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda will, however, not
attend the two-day dialog with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM),
which is set to begin on Friday.

His ministry said the separatist rebels were not entitled to
international diplomacy. "The issue is not in the domain of
diplomacy. GAM has no diplomatic standing," foreign affairs
minister spokesman Yuri Thamrin told AFP.

Officials had earlier said Hassan would be among the
Indonesian delegates.

Juwono said Minister Hamid serves as the chief negotiator in
the renewed talks as he has been involved in a series of informal
talks with GAM leaders before this week's meeting in Helsinki.

GAM will, meanwhile, be represented by several of its top
leaders, who now live in Sweden, including Aceh's self-styled
prime minister, Malik Mahmood, foreign minister Zaini Abdullah
and GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah.

The fresh peace talks will be facilitated by the Finland-based
Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), which is led by former
Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari and has extensive experience
in mediating conflicts.

"So far, there have not been any specific (schemes from either
side). This meeting is a good step," Juwono told the press after
a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Widodo, Hamid and Sofyan all refused comment on what the
government would offer GAM during the talks.

On Tuesday, Hamid said he would meet President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono to discuss the issue before departing to Finland. "We
will ask for presidential directives because it's a political and
a legal matter."

President Susilo had earlier said the government would grant
amnesty for GAM members who surrendered to the authorities, and
would press ahead with the implementation of the special autonomy
status in Aceh.

Asked whether the United States, Japan, Singapore, Sweden,
Britain or Libya supported the meeting, Juwono replied, "There
are GAM representatives in those countries. We have made it clear
that it is not appropriate for them to help GAM."

President Susilo met on Jan. 10 with the ambassadors from
those six countries at the presidential office, appealing for
their help to end the separatist fighting in Aceh.

He told them that the Indonesian government wanted to find a
peaceful solution to the decades-old war.

GAM has been struggling for the independence of Aceh since
1976, and has accused the government of siphoning off the
province's natural riches.

In May 2003, the military relaunched a major offensive against
the rebels after a short-lived truce began in December 2002 and
peace talks collapsed in Tokyo, as both parties complained about
each other's interpretation of the peace accord.

Armed conflict between GAM and the Indonesia Military
continued, even after the Dec. 26 tsunami devastated so much of
Aceh. The military says more than 2,500 rebels have been killed
since 2003.

Negotiations between the government and GAM started in 2000.
Earlier, the government offered a special autonomy package that
was supposed to give Acehnese more say over their affairs, but
insisted it would never allow an independent state.

Rebels agreed to use the autonomy package as a starting point
but said they wanted nothing short of independence.

The government has also been trying for several years to get
the Swedish government to take legal action against GAM's top
leaders, including those now holding Swedish citizenship, but to
no avail.