RI negotiators, GAM brace for talks

RI negotiators, GAM brace for talks

The Jakarta Post, Helsinki/Jakarta

Negotiating teams from the Indonesian government and the main
rebel movement in Aceh province, where a long-running conflict
was overshadowed by last month's devastating tsunami disaster,
arrived in Finland on Thursday for peace talks, officials said.

The Indonesian delegation included three ministers, according
to Marie-Elena Cowell, a spokeswoman for the Crisis Management
Initiative (CMI), a private foundation organizing the talks and
headed by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari.

The exiled leadership of the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
arrived in Helsinki from Stockholm just before noon, Cowell said.

It will be the first meeting between the government and rebels
since a truce broke down 20 months ago.

While the Finnish government has no direct role in the
negotiations, which are expected to last through the weekend, it
is providing logistical support, a senior civil servant said.

"The government gives support to their efforts, and hopes the
efforts lead to early results," Hannu Himanen, under-secretary of
state at the Finnish foreign ministry, told Agence France-Presse.

GAM has fought for Aceh's separation from Indonesia since
1976.

It was not known whether talks would begin Thursday as
planned, with GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah said that "there
might be some briefings later today" but saying there was no
"clear program at the moment".

The Indonesian government team was led by Minister of Justice
and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin, Coordinating Minister for
Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo A.S., a former
military chief in Aceh, Maj. Gen. Syarifuddin Tippe, and State
Minister of Communications and Information Sofyan Djalil.

GAM's negotiating team is headed by self-styled Aceh prime
minister Malik Mahmud and his "foreign minister" Zaini Abdullah.

In Jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono offered
concessions to the GAM rebels if they agreed to a cease-fire and
drop demands for Aceh's independence in the upcoming peace talks.

"If we can agree to terminate the conflict based on granting
of special autonomy status, then I will give some concessions to
them," Susilo said, adding that these would include an amnesty
for the rebels and measures to reintegrate rebel fighters.

"I've heard that the response was positive," he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirayuda denied the
suggestion that his ministry was left out in the cold in the
talks with GAM.

"The conflict with GAM can be considered as a domestic matter
and the group is not a foreign entity. Therefore, it is not a
problem of diplomacy that will involve the Foreign Affairs
Ministry," Hassan told members of the House of Representatives
Commission I on defense and foreign affairs, who staunchly
opposed the planned talks.