RI, GAM asked to save peace

RI, GAM asked to save peace

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's international aid donors are putting pressure on
Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to continue with their
plan to hold a Joint Council meeting to salvage the fragile peace
in Aceh.

The United States, Japan and the World Bank said a successful
Joint Council meeting would be necessary to save the Dec. 9 peace
agreement in the natural resource-rich province, while blaming
GAM for causing the talks, originally planned to begin on Friday,
to falter.

"We regret that GAM has allowed minor procedural issues to
prevent the parties from meeting. We call upon GAM to maintain
the path for a peaceful solution of the Aceh conflict," Japan
Ambassador to Indonesia Yutaka Iimura said on Friday.

He was speaking after a meeting with representatives of the
U.S. and the World Bank to respond to Jakarta's decision not to
send a delegation to Geneva, Switzerland, where the talks were
scheduled to take place. GAM had insisted on holding the meeting
on April 27, instead of April 25 as it was presumed by all
parties.

Japan, the U.S., the EU and the World Bank were co-chairs of
the Tokyo Conference on Peace and Reconstruction in Aceh. They
have pledged humanitarian assistance to help with reconstruction
in the province, which has been hampered by years of conflict
since GAM began its secessionist movement in 1976.

With Indonesian Military (TNI) and GAM fighting almost
everyday, more than 10,000 people have been killed, mostly
civilians.

The donors said the continued implementation of the Cessation
of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) signed last year would depend on
a successful result of the Joint Council meeting.

"For the sake of keeping the COHA process alive, we hope the
parties will put the interests of the people of Aceh to live in
peace and security above any other interests," the donor
countries said.

The EU did not attend Friday's meeting.

Separately, Sudi Silalahi, an assistant to the Coordinating
Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, hinted that there was still a chance for peace to
prevail in Aceh.

"The door for a peaceful solution in Aceh is still open, but
we have to spell out conditions to do so." he said after a
ministerial meeting on Aceh. The conditions will be brought to
President Megawati Soekarnoputri during a Cabinet meeting on
Monday.

Sudi asserted that the military and the police would remain on
high alert to anticipate a worsening situation in Aceh pending
the government's final say about the peace process.

Present at the meeting presided over by Susilo were, among
others, Coordinating Minister for Social Welfare Jusuf Kalla,
National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Chief A.M. Hendropriyono, TNI
chief of general affairs Lt. Gen. Djamari Chaniago, and several
officials from economic ministries.

Despite threats of a breakdown of the truce, the Henry Dunant
Centre (HDC) promised the government on Friday to look forward to
another time and venue for the dialog.

"The peace deal is an historic opportunity for peace and the
problems recently encountered in its implementation can be
resolved between the parties," HDC said in a statement.

GAM meanwhile denied responsibility for the failed meeting,
saying it had actually sent delegations from Kutaraja in Aceh
while another was ready to take a flight from Kuala Lumpur at the
same time.

"From the very beginning, Indonesia has chosen not to follow
any normally acceptable procedure in its demand to convene the JC
meeting. Instead of informing HDC about its wish to have the JC
meeting convened, it chose to summon our side to attend the
meeting in Jakarta, even before informing the mediator
officially.

"It delivered the demand through the press with a threat, that
if we refused, Jakarta would launch a large scale military
operation to 'wipe GAM out'. We naturally had no choice but to
ignore such a demand, until the HDC informed us officially of the
request," GAM said in the statement.

GAM further urged the Indonesian government to read and
understand the contents of the COHA, saying that "nowhere in the
Agreement is it written that we had accepted the NAD Law as the
starting point to the final solution."

While the government insists that the acceptance of the
special autonomy for Aceh law is final, GAM says it will pave the
way for independence for Aceh.

Violence has been on the rise over the past two months,
leaving 50 people dead.

Both parties have also failed to comply with the nearly five-
month-old peace agreement, which requires a repositioning of TNI
and police strictly for defensive roles and GAM to lay down arms.