Sweden promises to follow up RI request over GAM leaders
Sweden promises to follow up RI request over GAM leaders
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Swedish authorities may be moving towards following up on
Indonesia's request for action against exiled leaders of the Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) living in that country, saying they would be
summoned to explain the evidence of terrorism presented by
Indonesia.
Director General for Political Affairs at the Swedish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs Anders Linden said that his office would
question the GAM leaders about the evidence.
"They have promised to summon Hasan Tiro and his fellow GAM
leaders, and question them about the evidence and complaints we
presented," Ali Alatas said after a meeting with Linden at the
latter's office.
Alatas said further that the Swedish official had promised
that his government would take (political) action against the GAM
leaders as soon as possible without waiting for legal action from
the Swedish attorney general's office.
Before his meeting with Linden, Alatas met with the Swedish
deputy attorney general, who promised to study the evidence
presented by the Indonesian delegation and to give an official
response within two weeks.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri's special envoy Ali Alatas
and his team were in Stockholm to urge Swedish authorities to
take action against exiled Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders in
that country, including the GAM-designated Aceh president Hassan
Tiro, prime minister Malik Mahmood and foreign minister Zaini
Abdullah.
Alatas' team, which arrived in Stockholm at the weekend,
handed over to Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh what it
claimed was "proof of the links between GAM representatives in
Sweden and terrorist acts committed by GAM rebels in Indonesia."
The delegation brought with them faxes, and transcripts of e-
mails and orders sent from Stockholm to Aceh as evidence that the
Acehnese exiles were involved in criminal acts.
The team is the fourth delegation the Indonesian government
has sent to Sweden since 2000 to convince the Swedish government
to take action against the GAM leaders.
GAM leaders have been living in Sweden for many years and have
taken out Swedish citizenship. To date, the Swedish government
has taken no action against them, saying they had done nothing to
violate Swedish law.
On Tuesday, Alatas' team met with Swedish foreign minister
Anna Lindh, who said her government could take no action against
the GAM leaders as they had not breached Swedish law.
Alatas said that Swedish Deputy Attorney General Christer van
der Kwast promised to study all the evidence from the Indonesian
team in accordance with Swedish law.
"They will decide on whether the proofs we have submitted are
sufficient for them to proceed with a legal process, or whether
they need more proof, or whether the evidence is insufficient for
them to act," Alatas said.
Alatas, who is also a former foreign minister, underlined that
Indonesia had no intention of attempting to pressure Sweden over
the issue, but was simply requesting Stockholm's support for its
efforts to stamp out armed rebellion in Aceh.
The delegation is slated to return home on Thursday.