Violence increases in Aceh as peace process in danger

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.