Pressure mounts on 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.

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

However,, the Henry Dunant Center (HDC), 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.

Also, the Swedish based Aceh-Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF), which is understood to be part of the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM), said in a statement on Thursday that they believed an agreement with the Indonesian government could be signed in early December provided final sticking points were ironed out.

It said "most of the points have been agreed upon" in a draft document exchanged with the Indonesian authorities.

Sources close to the talks, which have been held at secret locations in Switzerland since 2000, have said that the next key stage would be an agreement on a ceasefire followed within weeks by a monitoring structure.

Referring to the draft, the rebel statement said: "It provides a good basis for an agreement. Nevertheless, there are a few issues that need to be ironed out".

"We are convinced that this could be settled soon through the mediation of the HDC," it continued.

HDC also organized a meeting between the rebels and Acehnese civilian representatives over the last two days in Switzerland.

The rebel group said the meeting had helped them conclude that the timing was appropriate for an agreement with Jakarta, and could come soon after the end of Muslim holy month of Ramadhan in the beginning of December.

"We also believe that the signing of an agreement with the GoI (Government of Indonesia) is most likely to take place immediately after the Eidul Fitr," the statement added, referring to the end of the Ramadhan.