Third GAM weapons handover extended, peace monitors say

Third GAM weapons handover extended, peace monitors say

Reuters/Jakarta

The third round of a weapons handover by former rebels in Aceh
province will be extended into the weekend after a number of arms
were disqualified, a monitoring body said on Friday.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) began handing in weapons on
Monday under the third of four decommissioning phases of an Aug.
15 peace pact with Indonesia. The agreement ended a 30-year
conflict that killed 15,000 people, mostly civilians.

So far European-led monitors had accepted 166 weapons this
week, short of the 210 target for each phase. The handover had
already been due to end on Thursday, but a spokesman for the Aceh
Monitoring Mission said it was no cause for alarm.

"We have accepted 166 weapons this week. So, 44 weapons to go.
But GAM has promised to continue the decommissioning over the
weekend," said Juri Laas.

GAM had handed in more than 220 weapons this week, but they
have to meet certain requirements, such as being functional.

Laas said the military still planned to go ahead and start its
next troop withdrawal on the weekend.

"The phase is still on track. The military withdrawal will
still take place tomorrow (Saturday) from Lhokseumawe," he said,
referring to the military's main embarkation port in Aceh
province.

The government had planned to pull 5,665 soldiers and 1,350
policemen out of Aceh once the third phase of the weapons
handover had finished. An Indonesian general earlier this week
said he hoped some of them could begin leaving on Saturday.

Indonesia, which had more than 30,000 soldiers and 15,000
policemen in Aceh before the truce, has to cut its forces to no
more than 14,700 soldiers and 9,100 police under the agreement.

GAM has to surrender a minimum of 840 weapons to peace
monitors by the end of the year.

During the first two phases of decommissioning, a total of 570
weapons were handed over.

Of these, 424 were accepted by both monitors and the
government. A further 52 weapons were accepted by monitors but
are still disputed by Jakarta, the monitors have said.

GAM and Indonesia's government signed the peace pact after
months of negotiation spurred on by the Dec. 26 tsunami that
smashed into Indian Ocean coastlines.

That disaster left around 170,000 Acehnese dead or missing,
and created pressure for the two sides to end their conflict.