Talks by cellular phone

Talks by cellular phone

Acehnese separatists prevented by Indonesian police from attending last-ditch peace talks in Tokyo joined the negotiations by telephone Sunday.

In a stuffy hotel room where plates of chopped mango and bananas sat ready to fuel his efforts, Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, the lead negotiator for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, stood in sandals with his left hand in his pants pocket and his right hand holding a small cellular telephone to his ear.

A small sheet of paper with handwritten notes about the cessation of hostilities agreement sat on a desk beside the plate of chopped mango.

Two other GAM representatives wearing sarongs sat on the foot of a bed as Tiba, a lawyer, spoke in Acehnese with GAM negotiators in Tokyo about the role of the Indonesian police.

Five GAM negotiators gathered in the hotel room to periodically provide input for Tiba's frequent conversations with Tokyo. Two mediators from the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) assisted with the communication.

"We're doing a lot of back and forth," said HDC representative David Gorman.

As Tiba talked on the phone, the wife and six other female relatives of another negotiator Muhammad Usman, 68, sat quietly on two beds. They arrived with food and came to check on Usman's health after his day in police custody, Usman's wife Pocut Sariwati said.

"What a shame. He's already old," she said.

The Five GAM negotiators, including Tiba and Usman, were unable to attend the talks in person after Indonesian police detained them Friday morning as they headed to the airport for their flight to Tokyo.

Police have named them suspects in recent bombings blamed on GAM in Jakarta and Medan, a city in North Sumatra neighboring Aceh.

They were freed Saturday night just as the Tokyo talks were about to begin between Indonesian delegates and other GAM delegates who arrived from Sweden. -- AFP