RI prepares exit from Aceh peace pact
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian government is preparing an exit strategy from the five-month-old Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) it signed with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, a move that will permit a military operation in the restive province.
Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra said on Tuesday there were sufficient reasons for the government to pull out of the peace pact, citing its ineffectiveness in dealing with separatism in Aceh.
"We are preparing a letter to HDC saying that we are pulling out of the agreement, which we consider has provided the chance for GAM to promote their independence movement," Yusril said after a Cabinet meeting.
Yusril was referring to the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) that facilitated the peace deal in Geneva last December.
The minister underlined that the government had shown good will by repeatedly calling for a Joint Council meeting, the highest monitoring body of the peace pact, but the gesture had been ignored by GAM.
"GAM lacks good intentions, so we do have enough reasons not to continue the deal," he remarked.
Article 9 of the peace agreement says that 30 days must pass after a Joint Council meeting before either side can decide to quit the deal.
The status of COHA has been hanging in the balance after GAM refused the April 25 date offered by the government for the Joint Council meeting. GAM instead asked the meeting to take place on April 27.
Then the government gave a two-week deadline for GAM to return to the negotiating table with the understanding that the rebels must acknowledge the unitary state of Indonesia and disarm themselves. The deadline passed at midnight on Monday.
Despite the government plan to use military force, HDC spokesman Steve Daly said his office was still making efforts to save the peace pact even though the deadline had passed, but admitted no breakthrough had come out of the diplomatic efforts.
More than 50 international peace monitors grouped under the Joint Security Committee (JSC) have left Aceh for their respective countries as war looms.
JSC chief, Maj. Gen. Tanongsuk Tuvinun also bade farewell to the Indonesian government, but expressed confidence that there were chances for all parties to save the peace accord.
"We are still very optimistic and we will not stop. I still do believe that the process is not formally terminated and the JSC is not officially dissolved," he told a press conference after a meeting with Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Tanongsuk said he expected the peace process in Aceh to resume soon with a possible Joint Council meeting in the near future.
He asserted that JSC had not dissolved although it was practically no longer in operation. He called his and other foreign monitors' exit from Indonesia a part of a rotation policy.
"Perhaps it is better because a rotation (of monitors) is supposed to be done in six months. We've been here for over five months," said Tanongsuk, who will fly to Bangkok on Wednesday.
He suggested that both Jakarta and GAM take further measures to make peace talks possible.
"There had been a few mistakes from one party and a few from the others, and probably some from all of us," Tanongsuk replied when asked who was to blame for the collapsed truce.
Susilo said the Indonesian government had planned to award Tanongsuk for his service in maintaining peace in Aceh.