National dialog planned in Aceh

National dialog planned in Aceh

JAKARTA (JP): The government and the separatist Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) will participate in a dialog aimed at seeking a
peaceful solution to the conflict in the restive province,
organizers of the talks announced on Friday.

Indonesian Prosperous Labor Organization (SBSI) chairman
Muchtar Pakpahan said the dialog -- jointly organized by SBSI,
the Aceh Legal Aid Foundation and the Forum for Care for East
Aceh Youths (Forpatt) -- was scheduled to be held in Langsa, East
Aceh, on Jan. 25.

Speaking during a meeting with People's Consultative Assembly
Speaker Amien Rais here, Pakpahan said all related parties had
confirmed their participation and would send delegations to the
talks.

"We have made official contact with GAM, Aceh ulema, students,
non-governmental organizations, the military and the National
Police. They have all pledged to send representatives," Pakpahan
said.

Amien said he would also attend the dialog.

Pakpahan also said he, Aceh Legal Aid Foundation chairman
Yacob Hamzah, Forpatt chairman Said Zamal and Siti Hartati
Murdaya from the Indonesian Buddhist Community met with State
Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasbalah M. Saad and the chief
of the Army's Strategic Reserve Command, Lt. Gen. Djadja
Suparman, on Friday to make the necessary preparations for the
dialog.

The organizers of the talks will meet with President
Abdurrahman Wahid on Saturday morning to report their progress in
organizing the event.

Pakpahan said dialog organizers had already met several times
with the President, a number of government officials and GAM
leaders regarding the proposals which would be put forward during
the talks.

Yacob said organizers would seek approval for self-governance
for the province -- excluding matters of foreign policy, defense,
monetary policies and justice -- during the talks.

"Under our arrangement, a presidium whose members will consist
of the current governor, the commander of GAM and the speaker of
the Aceh provincial legislature will jointly run the
administration before a permanent government is established,"
Pakpahan said.

He said the President, the military and GAM had thrown their
weight behind the proposal.

The military, he added, remained unhappy with a plan to pull
out combat troops and police from the province because of the
absence of a security guarantee following the withdrawal.

Military

Yacob blamed disturbances and violence in Aceh on the local
security personnel, who he said were also intimidating those
connected to the planned dialog.

"The recent killing of nine Acehnese and the burning of 80
houses in Lhoksukon involved security personnel wearing police
uniforms and provocateurs dressed in the uniforms of the Army's
elite Kopassus force."

Yacob said the killings and arson attacks early this week
followed the shooting of a soldier by a police officer.

He also said the recent beatings of an RCTI cameraman and
local reporters working for foreign media in Lhoksukon were
evidence that security personnel in the province continued to
resort to repressive measures.

Yacob urged the military to help create a conducive situation
for the dialog to demonstrate the government's commitment to
making the talks a success.

He warned of an increase in violence in the province if the
planned dialog failed and the military's approach to the conflict
remained unchanged.

The latest outbreak of violence in Aceh took place in Sigli on
Wednesday night when two men were shot dead by unidentified
attackers.

The victims, identified as 42-year-old Fauzi, an engineer
working on a school construction project on the outskirts of
Sigli, and Mahdi, 31, a computer expert, were working late when
the attackers fired on them through the window of their office.

"The incident took place at around 11:30 p.m. Witnesses said
they heard the sound of motorbikes fleeing the scene right after
the attack," Sigli Police chief Lt. Col. Endang Emiqail Bagus
said.

Police are still investigating the motive behind the shooting,
as none of the victims' belongings were missing, Endang said.

"The office was previously a cabin used by former president
Soeharto. A couple of years ago it was changed into an office," a
local resident said.

Two more bodies were discovered in West Aceh later in the
week. Muhammad Amin, 37, was found on Thursday afternoon in Cot
Ujo Mudi village in Kramatiga district. The body had already
begun to decompose.

The remains of Midi, 34, were discovered under Lambuso bridge
in Johan Pahlawan district on Friday morning, a volunteer from
the Indonesian Red Cross, Teuku Akbar, said.

Separately, 21 activists from the People's Crisis Center
staged a hunger strike at the Aceh office of the National
Commission on Human Rights, to protest assaults by security
personnel on volunteers working at the center. (50/51/edt/rms)