Pressure mounts for govt, GAM to sign peace accord

Pressure mounts for govt, GAM to sign peace accord

Nani Farida
The Jakarta Post
Banda Aceh/Jakarta

Pressure is mounting for the government and secessionist Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) to sign a peace agreement to put an end to
decades-long bloody conflicts in the country's westernmost
province.

Around 3,000 people from Banda Aceh and neighboring Aceh Besar
regency prayed for peace outside the Grand Baiturrahman Mosque on
Thursday, for the second time in the past four days.

Thousands of Muslim women and men began to flock to the
province's largest mosque at 8 a.m. to join the public prayers
that were also attended by Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh, chairman
of the local legislature Muhammad Yus and a number of ulemas and
public figures.

A number of banners were on display around the mosque,
expressing the people's desire for peace in the province, where
GAM has been fighting for independence since 1976. Over 10,000
people, mostly civilians, are believed to have been killed since
then.

Some of the banners read: "Peace, peace, when will you come?",
"We want to live 1,000 years more", and "End violence in Aceh".

Dressed in Muslim attire, they all prayed fervently from 9
a.m. through 12:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, hundreds of students of state Syiah Kuala
University staged on Thursday a peaceful rally at the Simpang
Lima roundabout at the heart of Banda Aceh, calling on the
central government and GAM to respect the results of the Geneva
peace talks and implement the points agreed upon.

The two sides, they said, should be able to cease all
hostilities as a precondition to creating peace and paving the
way for confidence-building measures, which would lead to a
improved situation in the province and a strengthening of the
economy.

At the last talks in May, the government and GAM agreed to
hold a "democratic, all-inclusive dialogue" based on autonomy for
Aceh as an Indonesian province and to set up measures to
implement a cease-fire.

In Jakarta, close to 2,000 students staged on Thursday
protests outside the U.S., British and Dutch Embassies, as well
as the UN office, condemning the government's ultimatum for GAM
to accept the special autonomy status and urging the military to
stop its offensive against the secessionist movement.

The government has given GAM until the end of December to
accept the special autonomy status, introduced on Jan. 1, 2001,
or face the full brunt of military might.

Last Sunday, over 1,000 people, including local military
leaders, also gathered in the Baiturrahman Mosque to pray for
peace.

Military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said in Jakarta on
Thursday that TNI fully backed a peace agreement between the
government and GAM, believing that the Aceh question could be
resolved without resort to military force.

"There are some good signs that GAM will accept the proposed
peace agreement by the first week of November," Endriartono said
at a media conference at the TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East
Jakarta.

He said that it was high time for GAM to prove that it was
really fighting for the people's welfare.

Endriartono also said that the government would grant a
sweeping amnesty to GAM members if the secessionist movement lay
down its arms.

"We will grant an amnesty ... even though such an amnesty is
not included in the draft of the accord," he said.

Meanwhile, the Henry Dunant Center, which has been sponsoring
peace talks between the government and GAM, denied on Thursday
that a new round of negotiations would take place in Switzerland
this weekend.

"There aren't any talks taking place this weekend," Andy
Andrea, a spokesman for the Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian
Dialog, was quoted by AFP as saying.

He also indicated that no date had been set for their
resumption.

Aceh Governor Puteh said in Banda Aceh on Thursday that the
negotiations would get under way on Saturday and last until
Tuesday in Switzerland.