Violence increases in Aceh as peace process in danger
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Armed encounters between government troops and rebels are increasing in troubled Aceh as calls mount in Jakarta for the replacement of the Henry Dunant Centre (HDC), a Swiss-based non- governmental organization brokering a peace pact signed last December.
Security authorities said on Wednesday that seven suspected rebels were killed on Tuesday, just one day after the government gave the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) a two-week deadline to accept the special autonomy status for Aceh and disarm.
Six GAM members were gunned down during a clash Tuesday in central Aceh, said local police chief Lt. Col. Bambang Prayitno, AP reported.
Another guerrilla was shot dead after rebels attacked a Marine post in southern Aceh, said Navy Maj. Eddi Fernandi.
Also Tuesday, a military patrol arrested three rebels trying to smuggle guns into the province, Eddi said.
The patrol ambushed the separatists' boat in the Malacca Strait off the northern coast of Aceh, and confiscated several automatic rifles.
The bloody encounters came just days after the government pulled out of long-awaited peace talks designed to salvage a fragile peace agreement signed on Dec. 9, 2002.
The HDC, which facilitated the pact, said on Tuesday that it was close to setting a new date and venue for a Joint Council meeting between the government and GAM rebels.
Meanwhile, in Jakarta, Vice President Hamzah Haz said Indonesian ulemas should take over the facilitation work from HDC in order to stop bloodshed in the country's westernmost province and ensure that the region remained part of Indonesia.
"The Vice President supports our idea to put ulemas at the forefront of the peace process between the government and GAM because they (ulemas) are respected," Mudzakir, coordinator of Islam-based organization National Muzakkarah, said after meeting Hamzah on Wednesday.
"The Vice President, nevertheless, suggests that we meet Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to discuss our idea," Mudzakir was quoted by Antara as saying.
Separately, former president Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur as he is familiarly known, suggested that the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) could act as the mediator in talks with GAM.
Speaking to journalists in Yogyakarta on Wednesday, Gus Dur -- who hand-picked the HDC as the peace facilitator in 2000 -- stressed that the OIC idea was merely a suggestion.
"If (the government) no longer wants the HDC, (the government) can ask the OIC to act as a mediator in future peace talks," Gus Dur said.
The HDC came under fire after the government decided to pull out of a long-awaited Joint Council meeting last Thursday after the secessionist movement insisted on holding the meeting on April 27, instead of April 25 as it proposed earlier.
Sociologist Otto Syamsuddin Ishak, however, said the government could not easily "release" the HDC as facilitator because "the Acehnese mostly do not look up to their ulemas who previously supported the central government's ten-year military operation under the New Order regime."
Otto criticized the government for being half-hearted in promoting peace in Aceh, saying that it should realize that "it takes time to create peace."
"The government's threat to launch a military approach has only worsened the situation in the field as many activists and civilians have been kidnapped in response to Jakarta's warning," Otto told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
"The peace agreement (signed in December) does not deal with issues like whether the province remains part of the country or becomes independent as the topic would be discussed in the all- inclusive dialog," Otto said.
Under the peace agreement, an all-inclusive dialog is to be organized after GAM rebels lay down their weapons and government troops withdraw to defensive positions. Both parties, however, have yet to make good on their promises.