On Helsinki's Aceh talks

On Helsinki's Aceh talks

Dr. Damien Kingsbury (The Jakarta Post, April, 26) refers to
the issues of monitoring and political participation in my
article on the third round of Aceh talks (From Aceh to Helsinki,
April, 20). Both are important issues, though, needless to say,
they're not final yet until the agreement is signed. It's true,
the discussion was about local political parties, not a local
party, for Aceh.

On monitoring, he questioned that external monitors to any
agreed process will not be "foreign troops". My quotation -- I'm
sorry for the missing source; it's a mistake on my part -- came
from my interview with the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI)
chief Martti Ahtisaari, who mediated the parties. Asked about the
nature of the monitoring, he said: "It will be civilian teams.
There is no mentioning of military".

Earlier, at the press conference, he said "(Foreign) troops
are not on the cards, it will be civilians. And this still has to
be worked out". (There is no transcript of this, but it can be
listened to at www.formin.fi).

Neither did Ahtisaari, when, at the press conference, talking
about a withdrawal of armed units, mention about military
monitoring teams. He said: "Withdrawal of troops, as part of
final agreement, is discussed in broad outline, has to be
monitored, (and) monitors have to be on place before withdrawal;
we have to agree on withdrawal".

So, as it now stands, it's too early to be sure about external
military involvement for the monitoring, although, as Kingsbury
suggests, this may at some stage be necessary.

ABOEPRIJADI SANTOSO
Amsterdam