Aceh Peace Talks in 'Crisis': Jakarta official

18/05/2003| IslamWeb

Last-ditch peace talks in Tokyo between the Indonesian government and Aceh separatists were in "critical condition", a security official said, as the countdown to possible conflict began in the province. "The condition is critical. It seems that GAM refuses to accept the terms," said Harsanto, a secretary to top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Harsanto told AFP he was told about the situation one hour earlier by one of the government negotiators. Yudhoyono late Saturday gave the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) three conditions to avoid a military attack. By the end of the Tokyo talks Sunday, he said, they must have recognised the "unitary state of Indonesia," accepted special autonomy for the province rather than independence and agreed to start disarming. "If GAM's response, which we will find out tomorrow afternoon, does not give a positive answer to what the Indonesian government has conveyed, the joint operation will be carried out under a presidential decree," he told reporters. Yudhoyono said a decree authorising what he called a joint security and humanitarian operation would be issued on Sunday or by Monday at the latest. A cabinet official said President Megawati Sukarnoputri would chair a meeting late Sunday of top security ministers and the military and police chiefs about Aceh. He gave no time. The military has for weeks been preparing for a major assault, readying aircraft, warships and thousands of troops. In the provincial capital Banda Aceh, rebel delegates who were prevented from attending the Tokyo talks joined the negotiations by telephone. Yudhoyono, in his press conference late Saturday, also imposed a new condition which the rebels are likely to find hard to accept -- that security forces must oversee GAM's disarmament. The peace pact signed by both sides on December 9 provides for the rebels to store their weapons at sites known only to themselves and international monitors. It says troops must simultaneously withdraw to defensive positions. Rebel negotiator Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, one of five arrested by police in Aceh Friday as they were about to leave for Tokyo, said GAM would lay down arms if the process was carried out according to the "mechanism agreed in the Cessation of Hostilities agreement." The arrest of the five sparked a strong US protest. They were freed Saturday evening as the talks in Tokyo began. Tiba said any military action would result in many civilian deaths. "It is an undeniable fact that some Acehnese support independence," he said. "Maybe it will only take three months for the Jakarta government to finish the military operation but does it have to kill half of the population to end the conflict?" The five gathered Sunday in a stuffy Banda Aceh hotel room to periodically provide input for Tiba's frequent conversations with Tokyo. Two mediators from the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Centre (HDC) assisted with the communication. "They are talking, they are negotiating and they are being constructive," said HDC representative David Gorman. "It'll go on for the rest of the day." On Sunday an unidentified gunman in North Aceh shot a village chief and separitists attacked a police post in Bireuen district, seriously injuring a policeman, residents and police said. A gunfight Saturday with government forces left seven rebels dead in South Aceh, military spokesman Firdaus Komarno said. Yudhoyono said Saturday night the joint operation would impose martial law in Aceh but this could be relaxed if the rebels stopped fighting and started disarming within a week of the Tokyo meeting. The peace deal initially saw a dramatic drop in killings but the government complained that GAM was using it to recruit more fighters and promote independence. The separatists accused the military of organising mobs that forced ceasefire monitors to withdraw from the field. An estimated 10,000 people have died since GAM began fighting for independence in 1976. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Head of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) Malik Mahmud arrives for peace talks with Indonesian government in Tokyo.(AFP/Toru Yamanaka)