Self-rule demand a tough issue in new GAM talks

Muninggar Sri Saraswati The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

A top-level government delegation will hold a third-round of peace talks with officials of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Finland next week in a bid to seek a peaceful way to end nearly three decades of armed conflict in Aceh.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the team of ministers, who would fly to Finland on Sunday for the six-day talks starting on April 12, would among others seek explanation from GAM about its proposed self-rule concept.

"The agenda (will) lead to a settlement," he said after a Cabinet meeting in his office late on Thursday.

Kalla said previously that the government expected to reach an agreement with GAM by June.

The Indonesian delegation includes chief negotiator Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin, Minister of Communication and Information Sofyan Djalil and several other high-ranking officials. Coordinating Minister for Security, Legal and Political Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto will serve as the supervisor to the delegation.

Meeri-Mariia Jaarva of the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), a Finland-based non-government organization that has organized the talks, confirmed the planned meeting, saying that it would be held on the outskirts of Helsinki.

"The next talks will cover similar issues as the previous talking rounds: the special autonomy, security arrangements, economic relations, amnesty, outside monitoring ... " Jaarva was quoted by AFP as saying.

The last formal cease fire between the two sides broke down in May 2003, prompting the Megawati Soekarnoputri government to launch a major military assault to crush the GAM rebels, putting the province under martial rule. It later downgraded martial law into a permanent status of civil emergency, barring all foreign press and aid workers.

However after the devastating Dec. 26 tsunami, the government allowed foreign aid workers, troops and journalists to enter the province. The disaster also led both sides to resume peace negotiations.

The first two rounds of discussions, both in Helsinki, have focused on a government offer to grant Aceh special autonomy, with the rebels indicating they may drop demands for full independence if certain conditions are met. During the last talks in February, top GAM officials demanded a form of self-rule for the province.

Sofyan Djalil said the government would seek an explanation from GAM about its proposed self-rule concept.

"They want self-government. We don't know what it means," Sofyan said.

Indonesia, he said, still stuck to its offer of special autonomy for Aceh as "a peaceful and dignified settlement" to the conflict.

"It needs to be discussed further. What is the meaning of this (self-rule) term? The most important thing is the substance. Hopefully, the upcoming talks will lead to an agreement," he said.

During the talks, the government would no longer object to the involvement of Damien Kingsbury, an Australian academic who served as an adviser to the GAM delegation, he said.

Meanwhile, Kingsbury was quoted by Reuters as saying that the Indonesian government and GAM could reach a historic peace deal by August.

"I think there is not so much problem with the term self- government. The issue is around content obviously. Now there is concern in Indonesia that this is a back door to independence," Kingsbury said.

"Now what the GAM has to do is to persuade them that this is not in fact a back door to independence, but is self-government within the (Indonesian) republic," he said.

Kingsbury said one of GAM's major concerns was the presence of the Indonesian Military in the province, and that the rebels wanted free elections to be held.

"They are asking for elections in which they would participate as a legitimate and equal party, and assuming they were given a majority they would expect to form a government in Aceh," he said.

That could be a sticking point for Jakarta since Indonesian political parties are supposed to be active in most of the country's provinces, not just one of them.

Kingsbury, who said he has been in Indonesia recently and has met with Indonesian leaders, said GAM wanted any peace deal to be internationally guaranteed. "Not the UN. It will be external. The makeup of the guarantors is still being discussed. We have a fairly clear idea of who that will be."

That could be another tough issue.