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.