RI asks ASEAN for observers in Aceh

RI asks ASEAN for observers in Aceh

Associated Press, Vientiane

Indonesia has asked its Southeast Asian neighbors to send
observers to monitor a peace deal between separatist rebels and
the government in the strife-torn Aceh province starting next
month, a Thai official said on Tuesday.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda made the formal
request on Monday during a dinner with his counterparts in the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said Thai Foreign
Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow. The ministers gathered
here for an annual meeting.

"The Indonesian foreign minister wants ASEAN to play the key
role in monitoring the situation in Aceh after the peace
agreement is signed on Aug. 15," Sihasak said.

He said ASEAN members informally have agreed to assemble
military officers and legal experts for the team, which is
expected to be drawn mainly from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines
and Thailand, he said.

Thailand sent a team of observers to East Timor after its
independence from Indonesia, and Malaysia has sent one to the
southern Philippines, where Muslim rebels are fighting for an
independent homeland.

Representatives of the Free Aceh Movement rebel group and
government negotiators agreed earlier this month in Finland on a
peace accord to be signed on Aug. 15.

About 15,000 people have died in three decades of fighting in
Aceh, many of them civilians.

As part of the peace deal, the rebels gave up their demands
for independence in return for some form of political
representation in Aceh. The accord also calls for an amnesty for
the separatists, the destruction of their weapons, and the
establishment of a monitoring mission of unarmed European Union
and Southeast Asian observers.

Meanwhile, the foreign minister of Timor Leste, a former
province of Indonesia, on Tuesday praised Indonesia for being "so
open and bringing the EU and ASEAN to observe the peace process
in Aceh."

"This illustrates the change of mentality of mind in
Indonesia," said Jose Ramos-Horta, who was in Vientiane to attend
a regional security forum.

"Five or 10 years ago it was unthinkable that Indonesia would
agree to outside involvement in what they considered to be their
internal problem. This reflects a leap forward in the
sophistication in the way Indonesia deals with certain issues,"
he said.