Peace monitors to stay longer in Aceh as disarmament ends

Peace monitors to stay longer in Aceh as disarmament ends

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is expected to extend the presence of
international peace monitors in Aceh, previously scheduled to
finish their job in March, for another three months in a bid to
help ensure a lasting peace in the province.

In Banda Aceh, former separatist rebels surrendered a final
batch of weapons on Monday to meet the total 840 pieces required
under the peace agreement signed in August 2005.

Minister of Communications and Information Sofyan Djalil said
the government would hold a meeting later this month to discuss
the possible extension of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM)'s
presence to supervise the implementation of the peace deal with
the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

"It's probably for another three months, but it is subject to
the government's evaluation," he told the press in Jakarta on
Monday.

He said the number of AMM personnel would, however, be reduced
as their main task of monitoring the decommissioning of GAM
weapons and the withdrawal of reinforcement soldiers and police
in Aceh is set to be complete by the end of this month.

As many as 50 of the total 210 AMM monitors from ASEAN and the
European Union would leave Aceh as early as this week following
Monday's completion of the arms decommissioning.

Sofyan said AMM's next task would probably be to monitor the
implementation of direct regional elections in Aceh in accordance
with the peace deal.

Earlier in the day, a number of ambassadors from ASEAN and EU
countries held a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who
supervised the peace talks in the Finnish capital of Helsinki
that resulted in the Aug. 15 truce.

Among the ambassadors in attendance were Brunei's Mohammad
Amin, Malaysia's Zainal Abidin Zain, the Philippines' Shulan
Primavera, Thailand's Atchara Seriputra, Singapore's Edward Lee,
the United Kingdom's Charles Humfrey and EU delegation head Jean
Breteche.

Also present at the meeting were Coordinating Minister for
Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto,
Minister of Information and Communication Sofyan Djalil, AMM
chief Peter Feith, and Juha Cristensen, a Dane who helped
facilitate the peace talks.

"The ambassadors wanted to know about the future of AMM
because they need to inform their governments," Sofyan said,
adding that AMM had played a very positive role in the peace
process in Aceh.

Separately, Feith said the security situation in Aceh had
improved and that there was no need for AMM to stay there longer
than July 1.

"I think confidence and stability in Aceh has now increased to
a level where we don't need them beyond the maximum of the first
of July," he said after the meeting.

Feith said he expects Aceh will hold its first direct election
sometime between April and June.

In the meantime, GAM said it had fulfilled its obligations
under the landmark peace accord by handing over a final batch of
37 weapons.

The peace agreement required the former rebels to surrender
all of their 840 firearms, and for the Indonesian military (TNI)
to withdraw nearly 24,000 troops from oil- and gas-rich Aceh by
the year's end.

GAM gave up the last of their guns at the Harapan Bangsa
sports stadium in Lhongraya, Banda Raya district, Banda Aceh, in
two stages.

The first stage took place at around 10:30 a.m., where GAM
members handed over 37 firearms, with two of them disqualified by
the AMM. The remaining two were later surrendered at around 4:30
p.m.

AMM has recognized a total of 805 weapons surrendered by the
rebels since the start of the disarmament in September, but
declined to officially say if GAM had met its arms
decommissioning quota.

However, the government was still questioning the
qualification of 71 of the 840 weapons surrendered by GAM in the
four stages. "The Indonesian government has so far recognized
only 767 firearms, no more," said AMM's government representative
Bambang Darmono, who was formerly an Aceh military commander.

In response, GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah said his side
would leave the issue of disputed guns to the international peace
monitors for settlement.

"Today we have completed the disarmament. I think the number
of surrendered weapons is already enough," he said.

Bakhtiar said GAM would symbolically surrender the last weapon
on Wednesday, which would be destroyed.

The government is expected to withdraw the last of its
soldiers and police on Dec. 20, 27 and 29.