Violence clouds upcoming Aceh peace talks in Geneva
Violence clouds upcoming Aceh peace talks in Geneva
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Banda Aceh
Government officials and representatives of the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) are scheduled to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, on
Thursday and Friday amid increasing bloodshed in the troubled
province of Aceh.
"The Indonesian delegation will leave for Geneva tomorrow
(Tuesday) led by Pak Wiryono Sastrohandoyo. Accompanying him are
National Military Police chief Maj. Gen. Sulaiman A.B. and
several Aceh figures," Hassan said after holding a special
preparatory meeting for the talks at the Office of the
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs on
Monday.
Wiryono is a former Indonesian ambassador to Australia.
From the GAM side, spokesman Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba and GAM
negotiators Tgk. Muhammad Usman, T. Kamaruzzaman, Amni Ahmad
Marzuki and Amdi bin Hamdani departed for Geneva on Monday.
The peace talks will involve three "wise men": British Lord
Avebury, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Anthony Zinny, and
former Thai minister of foreign affairs Pitsuwan.
Minister Hassan said that the government was open to the
involvement of three "wise men", considering that "they are our
friends who support the country's integrity."
The peace talks, the tenth sponsored by the Swiss-based Henry
Dunant Center (HDC), aim at finding a peaceful solution to the
violence and various human rights abuses in the troubled
province.
GAM has been fighting to establish an independent state in the
devoutly Islamic province since 1976. More than 10,000 people,
mostly civilians, have died in the conflict, including over 400
this year alone.
Early in February, both parties also met in Geneva, during
which GAM, for the first time, agreed to use the special autonomy
status as the basis for future negotiations.
The meeting also agreed that both parties would hold all-
inclusive and transparent political dialog for Aceh between 2002
and 2003, support the cessation of hostilities and all acts of
violence in 2002 and establish a democratically elected
government in Aceh through free and fair elections in May 2004.
Asked whether the involvement of Sulaiman A.B. of the National
Military Police was aimed at answering Acehnese demands over
human rights violations in the province, Hassan said, "No ... he
is involved in the talks because he had good experience in
handling Aceh problems when he was a member of the Joint
Committee on Security Modality."
Sulaiman is a former Bukit Barisan Military Police commander
who was instrumental in sending Army's Strategic Reserves Command
(Kostrad) troops to jail for killing Aceh religious leader
Teungku Bantaqiah two years ago.
Meanwhile, at least nine people were killed in separate
clashes between the military and members of the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) on Sunday, three days before the peace talks were
due to begin in Geneva.
Aceh Military Spokesman Zaenal Mutaqin said five GAM fighters
were killed when some 40 soldiers from the 112 Regional Infantry
and the 328 Airborne raided a suspected GAM hideout in Tumpok
Lampo village, Kota Baro district, Aceh Besar, around 15
kilometers east of provincial capital Banda Aceh.
"Material evidence confiscated included 14 firearms," Zaenal
Mutaqin told The Jakarta Post on Sunday evening.
The military also shot dead on Sunday two captured GAM
fighters in Alue Itam village, Kuala district, Aceh Barat, after
they had tried to escape.
However, GAM spokesman Ayah Sofyan said that only two GAM
fighters were killed in Tumpok Lampo village in Aceh Besar, while
the rest were civilians executed by the military.
According to Aceh military deputy spokesman Ertoto, one of
those killed in Tumpok Lampo village was a GAM commander with the
name Tengku Abang. Four others have not yet been identified.