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