Police release GAM leaders as Tokyo meeting starts

Agencies, Jakarta

As the meeting commenced in the Japanese capital of Tokyo to help salvage the shaky peace in Aceh, police released on Saturday night the five negotiators of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Police authorities in Banda Aceh, however, were quick to brush aside suggestions that the release was due to threats by GAM leaders to boycott the Tokyo meeting that started on Saturday evening.

The Tokyo meeting, jointly called for by Japan, the United States and the European Union, has been considered the last opportunity to salvage the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed by the Indonesian and GAM in December 2002, and to avert a major military offensive.

Aceh police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Sayed Husaini said the release was merely due to the completion of the interrogation process and had "nothing to do with any pressure from parties involved in the Tokyo meeting".

The five negotiators -- Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, M. Usman Lampoh Awe, Tengku Kamaruzzaman, Amni bin Marzuki and Nasiruddin bin Ahmad -- were arrested minutes before they were to depart for Tokyo to attend the meeting. Police earlier claimed that the arrests were made because the five "could be linked to a series of terrorist strikes".

David Gorman of the peace facilitator, the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC), said the five GAM negotiators were freed at about 4:30 p.m. local time, almost the exactly the time that other GAM representatives arrived at the Tokyo venue for last-minute talks with Indonesian delegates, AFP reported.

It was not immediately clear if the five delegates would still attempt to travel to Japan to join the talks, but Husaini commented, "Why would they go there? The meeting began tonight."

Asked if they would be allowed to leave on Sunday when the next flight departs, Husaini replied, "We will see tomorrow."

GAM's self-exiled top leadership in Sweden had threatened to boycott the Tokyo meeting because of the arrest of the five on Friday morning as they were on their way to the airport to fly to Japan.

Police said the negotiators had not sought permission to leave the province.

Since Indonesia decided on a possible military operation to quell the separatist rebels, the military has been preparing for a large-scale military assault in Aceh, with aircraft, warships and thousands of troops being readied.

In Banda Aceh, police and military stepped up security patrols and reerected roadside checkpoints to stop motorists to check their identities.

The peace deal signed on Dec. 9 last year initially saw a dramatic drop in killings in the resource-rich province in Sumatra, but the temporary lull in hostilities was followed by renewed violence and skirmishes as both sides failed to keep to the terms of the agreement.