President calls on Aceh insurgents to end conflict
President calls on Aceh insurgents to end conflict
Agencies, Singapore
Indonesia's president on Wednesday urged separatist rebels in Aceh province to negotiate peace, saying an end to the conflict was essential before the tsunami-battered region could be rebuilt.
"Aceh's rehabilitation and reconstruction will need to be carried out under a condition of maximum peace," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said during a visit to Singapore.
He said the people of Aceh were no longer interested in conflict following the Dec. 26 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that erased entire towns and villages, killing more than 100,000. Tens of thousands died elsewhere in the Indian Ocean region.
In a speech at a convention center, Susilo said Indonesians were united in their efforts to help tsunami survivors, and he urged the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to seek peace.
"I call on GAM at all levels, wherever they are, to terminate this conflict, to come to permanent peace with dignity, and to work together to rebuild Aceh under the framework of special autonomy," said the president, a former military general who won Indonesia's first direct presidential election last year.
"This is what the Acehnese want, this is what the Indonesian government is offering, and this is what the international community supports unreservedly," Susilo was quoted by AP as saying in a speech hosted by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
While maintaining that he is "optimistic as ever" about Indonesia's future, Susilo acknowledged the earthquake-triggered tsunami "hit us like a brick wall".
"The tsunami brought the country together," he said as quoted by DPA.
Indonesia's military said last week it had killed at least five separatist rebels in two clashes in the region, where international aid workers from several countries are providing tsunami relief.
Last month, delegations from the two sides met near the Finnish capital of Helsinki for the first time since peace talks collapsed in May 2003. They had agreed to the new talks in the aftermath of the tsunami.
The two sides are expected to meet again on Feb. 21, according to Finland.
Rebels in Aceh have been fighting for independence since the 1970s. Rights groups routinely accuse the Indonesian military of human rights abuses, and rebels have allegedly targeted suspected collaborators with the state.