Aceh: seconda fase del ritiro indonesiano

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Former rebel says Aceh peace is here to stay



BANDA ACEH, (Today Reuters Sun Aug 13, 2006 8:58am ET) - Peace in Indonesia's once-volatile Aceh province has united its war-weary people and is here to stay, a former rebel who will run in the region's landmark polls said on Sunday.
The separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and Indonesia's government signed a peace deal almost a year ago on August 15, 2005 after months of negotiations spurred by the December 2004 tsunami that left around 170,000 Acehnese dead or missing.
The truce, signed in Helsinki under Finnish mediation, was aimed at ending a conflict that killed around 15,000 people, mostly civilians, from 1976 to late 2004.
"I am confident that this is it. The Aceh people want peace and now we have it. Only with peace we can achieve everything else that we want," Hasbi Abdullah, who spent 14 years in jail for activities linked to GAM, told Reuters in an interview.
"Aceh people see this peace as the last way out. We have no other option. If anyone enters Aceh to mess things up, he will become our common enemy."
Aceh will hold its first direct gubernatorial vote in December and college lecturer Abdullah will run for deputy governor as an independent candidate backed by the United Development Party (PPP), a leading Islamic party that is strong in Aceh.
In line with the Helsinki talks, Indonesia has passed a new bill that allows the establishment of local political parties in Aceh, contradicting national electoral laws that require parties to have branches in more than half of Indonesia's 33 provinces.
But local parties can start functioning only next year after practical guidelines have been laid out.
In the absence of local parties, the new bill allows GAM to field its representatives in the coming Aceh polls as independent candidates.

"Some in GAM want to go all out at once and seek the governorship. But I say if we do that and we fail, it will be embarrassing and our hard work will fall to pieces," said Abdullah.

Asked whether any GAM-made local party may include the idea of separating Aceh from Indonesia in its manifesto, Abdullah said: "No."

"The idea has a few supporters, but it is not popular any more. We have to be realistic and deal with what we have now."

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JAKARTA (Reuters Aug 14, 2006) - Indonesia needs to ensure that a hard-won peace in Aceh province becomes permanent, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Monday, ahead of the anniversary of a deal to end three decades of conflict.
The separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government signed a pact in Helsinki on August 15, 2005, aimed at ending a war in which 15,000 people died and giving Acehnese greater power over their own affairs.
"We must consolidate this peace and bring it to a point of no return," Yudhoyono told a conference on Aceh in the capital.
"To be successful, that permanent peace will have to be built on human security, political reconciliation, economic reconstruction and social unity," he added.
Last month, Indonesia's parliament passed a landmark law that paved the way for direct elections of executives in the province on Sumatra island's northern tip.
GAM officials have welcomed the new law but said that some of its provisions must be amended because they were not in line with the peace agreement.
A message from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan relayed to the conference by an official called for successful elections.
"It would be tragic if after coming so far, any party in Aceh resorted to violence," the message said.
An Indonesian minister previously said the first direct elections could take place by December 10.
In the coastal village of Lam Badeuk in Aceh a group of locals at a coffee shop spoke of the changes peace has brought.
"Shootings from both sides often occurred here especially from up there," said Zailani, a carpenter, pointing to the hills where GAM guerrillas often hid to ambush Indonesian soldiers.
"We have not heard any gunshots for a quite a long time," he added.

TSUNAMI SPURRED ACCORD

Last year's Helsinki-signed truce followed months of talks between the two sides, spurred by the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that left around 170,000 people killed or missing in Aceh.

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INDONESIA

[MISNA] In diecimila hanno protestato ieri davanti alla moschea di Banda Aceh in occasione del primo anniversario dell’accordo di pace che ha interrotto quasi tre decenni di guerriglia separatista. I dimostranti, in parte lì radunati dall’ex gruppo ribelle del ‘Gam’, si sono detti delusi da una recente legge del parlamento di Giakarta che verrebbe meno a parte degli accordi di pace. Gli ex ribelli hanno escluso un immediato ritorno alle armi, ma chiedono emendamenti alla legge.