Thousands to hold prayer for lasting peace

Thousands to hold prayer for lasting peace

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

As the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
are expected to sign a peace deal in Helsinki on Aug. 15, the
Acehnese kneel for two days of prayers beginning on Sunday,
invoking lasting peace in the land where decades of armed
struggle for independence in the resource-rich province has
killed over 15,000 people.

No less than 60 tents to accommodate some 15,000 Acehnese have
been erected inside the compound of Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in
the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

Charismatic Acehnese Muslim leader, Tgk. Djamaluddin Waly,
will lead the mass prayer.

Giant screens have been installed inside the mosque to allow
the Acehnese to witness the signing of the peace agreement, which
will be held at around 9 a.m. local time, to be aired by a
private TV station.

"I heard about the peace deal which has been reached between
the government and the GAM leadership from the newspapers and
television, but I don't really know the content of the peace
pact. Well, if it is true, I feel good that we can live in
peace," said Hafnisah, who teaches at an elementary school in
Krueng Raya area.

"We have suffered because of the tsunami, now we just need to
live without conflict," she added.

The peace pact will be signed by Minister of Justice and Human
Rights Hamid Awaluddin representing the Indonesian government and
self-styled prime minister Malik Mahmood representing the GAM
leadership.

Facilitated by the Finnish-based Crisis Management Initiative
(CMI), a series of peace talks between the government and GAM,
which started in January, were made possible only after the
tsunami hit the province on Dec. 26, killing over 130,000 people.

The peace pact grants greater autonomy for the Acehnese to
manage their own political and economic affairs. It also arranges
for a pardon for GAM members and other political prisoners. Under
the pact the government will withdraw a large number of its
troops and police personnel from non-local units.

In return, GAM agreed to drop its independence demand for the
province and surrender its weapons.

Both sides have agreed to invite representatives from EU and
ASEAN countries to monitor the implementation of the peace deal
in the field.

Meanwhile, about 50 members of the Aceh Monitoring Mission
(AMM) have arrived in Banda Aceh and set up an office on Jl.
Lorong Gembira.

The monitoring team, comprising 150 EU representatives and 100
ASEAN representatives plans to set up more than 10 posts across
the province.

Chairman of the monitoring team, Pieter Feith of the
Netherlands, will arrive on Sunday (today), and plans to prepare
the peace mission program in detail in line with their mandate
"to show the team's commitment to the conflict resolution in
Aceh".

Separately, the police have begun to withdraw their personnel
from non-local units deployed in several regencies in Aceh on
Saturday in support of the peace process in Aceh.

Two batches of a total of 708 policemen left from Malahayati
port in Aceh Besar and Krueng Geukueh in Lhokseumawe regencies
for Medan aboard the KRI Teluk Saleh.

"I'm glad that we can finally go home. I'm glad to be alive
and happy that I will meet my wife again, and that the peace
agreement has been reached," Adhie, a low-ranking police officer
from South Sulawesi who has been assigned in Aceh Besar regency
for about six months, told The Jakarta Post.

Adhie is among a total of 12,000 police personnel from units
outside Aceh who have been deployed in Aceh since President
Megawati Soekarnoputri imposed martial law across the province in
May 2003 and declared war against the separatist rebels.