Third phase of GAM weapons decommissioning begins
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After two successful weapons handover, the third phase of Free Aceh Movement's (GAM) weapons decommissioning is scheduled to take place from Monday to Thursday (Nov. 14 to Nov. 17), the Aceh Monitoring Mission said.
In a media statement issued on Sunday, AMM said all weapons, ammunition and explosives would be collected and destroyed in five different areas on the province's west coast during the four-day arms handover.
The handover will first take place on Nov. 14 in an area near Calang in Aceh Jaya. The second day of the weapons decommissioning will take place in West Aceh and Nagan Raya, the third in Southwest Aceh and the last day in South Aceh.
"In accordance with established procedures agreed to in the Commission of Security Arrangements (COSA), the exact locations in each area will be communicated by GAM to the AMM closer to the start of the decommissioning," the AMM statement said.
"The plan may be subject to changes for operational purposes."
AMM, consisting of European Union (EU) and ASEAN peace monitors, has been working in Aceh since Sept. 15 and is expected to end its tenure on March 15, 2006. Its main duty is to monitor the implementation of the Aug. 15 peace agreement between GAM and the Indonesian government.
The decommissioning of GAM weapons started on Sept. 15 and was to be executed in four stages.
The fourth and last phase is expected to take place in December.
Under the peace agreement reached in Finland, GAM is committed to hand over 840 arms.
The agreement stipulates that at least 210 weapons should be collected in each phase.
During the first two phases of weapons decommissioning a total of 570 weapons were handed over by GAM. Of these, 424 were received by both AMM and the government of Indonesia.
A further 52 weapons were accepted by AMM but are still disputed by the government. The rest were disqualified by both AMM and the government because they were out of order.
AMM said the successful completion of the monthly weapons collections would trigger a withdrawal in stages of non-organic Indonesian military and police forces from Aceh each month.
The withdrawal of non-organic military and police forces in November is planned to start immediately after the final day of the third phase of the decommissioning, the mission statement said. Military and police personnel had also been withdrawn after the first two phases of weapons decommissioning.
Four Mobile Decommissioning Teams consisting of monitors from the EU and five ASEAN countries will collect and decommission the weapons.