Rebels upbeat on EU joining talks
Rebels upbeat on EU joining talks
Agencies, Helsinki/Jakarta
The Aceh rebel group has expressed optimism on peace moves on Sunday, with a European Union delegation due to add weight to negotiations under way in Helsinki.
"We are gaining ground" in tackling the issues, Bakhtiar Abdullah, a spokesman for the exiled leadership of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), told AFP shortly before talks resumed for a session devoted to security measures.
The EU delegation will attend the talks on Monday to discuss plans for the future monitoring of any peace deal, one day before the meeting is scheduled to wind up.
While welcoming the possible EU role in monitoring an agreement, the GAM spokesman called for the international community to bring more pressure to bear for a successful outcome.
"We have common understandings that we need some regional monitoring and this has been agreed and we are going to meet them on Monday," said Abdullah.
"They will be hearing what we have to say, and most likely discussions will go on around the situation in the field."
"It is positive that the international community wants to see a solution but it should try to apply some more pressure to make these negotiations a success," he said.
"Of course the situation in the field is very bad... We need a sustainable and peaceful solution, not just an agreement for the sake of an agreement."
At Sunday's session the delegations were due to focus on a proposal by the Finnish mediators, the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), on the security aspects of a future deal.
On Saturday, GAM said it was demanding a cease fire as part of any security agreement, something the Jakarta government has so far refused.
The EU experts due to attend on Monday will comprise two from the European Commission and two from the EU's decision-making Council of Ministers, Meeri-Maria Jaarva, a CMI counselor, said on Saturday.
The Indonesian delegation for the talks was unavailable for comment, but in Jakarta the Indonesian Military (TNI) insisted that there would be no other choice for GAM but to surrender arms and accept the special autonomy already in place in Aceh.
"We're not engaged in any kind of deal being talked about in the Helsinki meeting. We may get involved once the GAM leadership agree to accept the autonomy concept and lay down their weapons," TNI chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said after a special meeting on political and security affairs on Sunday.
Despite the normalized security status, security operations to flush out rebels have continued in tsunami-ravaged Aceh.
The last cease fire was agreed in December 2002, but broke down in May 2003, prompting Jakarta to impose martial law in the province.