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.