No foreign parties involved in talks with GAM

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asserted on Wednesday that no foreign party would be involved when the government resumed peace talks with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Susilo said the problems in Aceh should be addressed by Indonesians, as they were a domestic matter.

Speaking to reporters after a ministerial meeting on political and security affairs, Susilo said foreign observers would be allowed at the talks only if their presence was aimed at upholding the unitary state of Indonesia.

"We believe the dialog between the government and GAM should take place in a national forum. Of course there will be some difficulties for us (the government) in facilitating the dialog, due to the fact that (GAM) is a group of people waging a separatist movement. I guess we still have room for dialog with them," Susilo said.

Sponsored by the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Center (HDC), a series of peace talks between Jakarta and GAM have been held over the past year.

One of four prominent points emerging from the latest round of talks on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3 was the HDC's decision to leave the future of the negotiations to both Indonesia and GAM.

The government hopes to open talks involving all parties in Aceh, because the talks with rebel groups have been seen in some quarters as failing to live up to the hopes of the majority in Indonesia's westernmost province.

Though the causes of the conflict in Aceh are different from those of the sectarian conflicts in Maluku and the Central Sulawesi town of Poso, the proposed talks would adopt the model used to reach peace agreements in these two provinces.

The government expects to settle the problems in Aceh by 2004, Susilo said.

Religious leaders from the country's two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, have plans to visit Aceh in a bid to help the government bring peace to the province. Both organizations believe the Aceh conflict does not stem solely from separatist aspirations, but also involves ethnic and religious issues.

Susilo said the government already had done a great deal toward resolving the conflict in Aceh, including restoring security and peace, protecting civilians and offering the province special autonomy status.

"We leave it to GAM whether or not to take the opportunity to hold a dialog with us," the coordinating minister said.