New round of peace talks opens in Helsinki
New round of peace talks opens in Helsinki
Agencies, Helsinki, Jakarta
Peace talks aimed at ending the prolonged conflict between the
Indonesian government and Aceh separatists that has left more
than 12,000 people dead since 1976 opened in Helsinki on
Thursday, mediators said.
"They are starting with separate meetings with (former Finnish
president) Martti Ahtisaari," who is mediating the talks,
spokeswoman Maria-Elena Cowell told AFP.
"Ahtisaari will first consult the government representatives
and then the representatives of GAM (Free Aceh Movement), to see
what the situation is," she said.
Security arrangements are expected to top the agenda, just
over a week after Indonesia decided to lift a one-year-old civil
emergency in Aceh.
The rebels called on Jakarta to halt military operations in
the tsunami-ravaged province.
In a statement signed by GAM's information officer Bakhtiar
Abdullah, the rebels urged the government to make a gesture of
good faith by ordering its forces to "terminate hostilities".
The call came amid a new skirmish on Thursday in Aceh between
paramilitary police and guerrillas, in which four people were
killed.
Police raided a village house in Aceh's Bireuen district early
on Thursday, surprising three rebels and sparking the firefight,
witnesses said as quoted by AP.
The bodies of three rebels and a policeman were found after
the hour-long shootout, they said, adding that one policeman was
also wounded.
Aceh has been a virtual battleground for government troops and
armed rebels since 1976 when GAM launched its campaign for
independence, angered by what it said was Jakarta's exploitation
of the province's resources.
The first round of Helsinki peace talks in January this year
was prompted by a need for international aid to reach Aceh, which
was decimated by the catastrophic earthquake and tsunamis on Dec.
26.
Those talks were the first since a military offensive in May
2003 aimed at crushing GAM, left more than 2,300 rebels dead.
While a positive atmosphere has surrounded the three rounds
held since January, few concrete initiatives have been presented
and fighting has continued on the ground.
At the last round of talks in April, the rebels proposed
changes to electoral laws that stipulate parties must be
nationally based, with branch representation in more than half of
Indonesia's provinces and with headquarters in Jakarta.
Unless the law is changed, any Aceh-based political group will
not be able to contest in any national or local polls.
"The government of Indonesia ... can only fulfill and give
promises to something that is allowable under our Constitution.
However, it's not allowable under our Constitution," information
minister Sofyan Djalil told Reuters on his arrival in Helsinki.
"Of course for the government of Indonesia it is very
difficult to compromise on that issue."
But GAM officials maintained an optimistic note despite the
government rebuff.
"I think in the spirit of this meeting we can solve it," said
the rebel group's prime minister, Malik Mahmud.
The current, fourth, round of talks is scheduled to last from
Thursday May 26 to May 31. The government has said it will not
hold more talks with GAM should the current round fail to strike
a deal to put an end to the conflict.
Jakarta's refusal could scuttle the talks because it gives GAM
no face-saving way to take part in Aceh's political process, said
Edward Aspinall, a Southeast Asian studies lecturer at Sydney
University.
"I think the chances are fairly high that the talks could
simply fail," Aspinall told Reuters on Wednesday.
"If it's a choice between continuing the armed struggle and
dissolving itself, then I think at least a significant portion of
the leadership will continue with the armed struggle."