Crisis in Aceh ~ Concern over Aid and Military

A compilation of news coverage from growing intolerance towards foreign media, military procurement, unfair distribution of aid by military, transition to civilian led relief efforts, malnutrition amongst children in Aceh, and a call for Acehnese involvement in post-disaster reconstruction.

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Source: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), as-@rsf.org
Date: 27 Jan 2005

Press Release
27 January 2005
INDONESIA

Army steps up restrictions on foreign journalists in Aceh

A month after an earthquake and a tsunami devastated Sumatra island, and especially Aceh province, Reporters Without Borders today said it was very worried by signs of growing Indonesian army intolerance towards the foreign news media, in which at least five journalists have been briefly detained or asked to leave Aceh and new rules have restricted press work.

"It would be very regrettable if we returned to the situation prevailingbefore the earthquake, when Aceh province was closed to the foreign media, "the press freedom organisation said. "Journalists must have access to all the affected areas and no special regulations should be applied to either the local or international press."

Reporters Without Borders also called on the authorities to explain why they expelled US freelance journalist William Nessen from Jakarta on 24 January, a day after arresting him as he left Aceh province. The authorities have so far just said he violated a territorial ban imposed on him in August 2003 after his first arrest in Aceh. At that time, he was sentenced to 40 days in prison for violating the immigration laws and was banned from Indonesia for a year. But that ban expired in August 2004.

A photojournalist and regular contributor to The San Francisco Chronicle and The Sydney Morning Herald, Nessen is the only foreign reporter to have covered the Indonesian army's May 2003 offensive against the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or GAM) from the rebel side.

Nessen told Reporters Without Borders he entered Indonesia and Aceh legally on 2 January, and was arrested by immigration officials as he left Aceh on 23 January, apparently at the request of military intelligence. He was interrogated about his activities in Aceh and, before he was expelled, the order banning him from Indonesian territory was extended to August 2005.

Previously, on 7 January, Martin Chulov and Renee Nowytager of The Australian were threatened and asked to leave the area by Indonesian soldiers who had just come under fire from GAM rebels. "Your duty is to observe the disaster and not the war between the army and the GAM," an officer told them.

Michael Lev, a reporter with the Chicago Tribune, and his Indonesian fixer, Handewi Pramesti, were arrested on 29 December by soldiers in Meulaboh (Aceh) and held for 28 hours.

Several hundred foreign journalists have gone to Aceh province since 26 December. Foreign ministry officials in Medan registered about 100 arrivals between 30 December and 15 January. At President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's instigation, the authorities gave the press a great deal of access to the areas hit by the tsunami.

But the Indonesian army announced on 13 January that journalists and humanitarian workers would henceforth have only limited access to the two main cities, Banda Aceh and Meulaboh. And citing security grounds, the authorities threatened to expel journalists who did not inform them of their plans.

Bruno Bonamigo of the state-owned Radio Canada was a few days later prevented by the authorities from going to Sigli, in the north of Aceh province, to follow the work of Doctors Without Borders.

The Aceh press has meanwhile been badly hit by the earthquake and tsunami. Some 20 local journalists have been killed or are missing, and most news media premises have been destroyed. But with international help, newspapers and radio stations such as the daily Serambi reappeared again just a few days after the tsunami.

The declaration of martial law in Aceh in May 2003 allowed the military authorities to impose very restrictive measures on the press and silence journalists who were covering the bloody war against the GAM rebels. Thereafter, the only way for Indonesian and foreign journalists to enter the theatre of operations was to join the press "pools" attached to army units. Aceh's few news media were put under surveillance.

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Source: The Jakarta Post
Date: 29 Jan 2005

Synergies Needed to Build Modern Defense Industry
By Ridwan Max Sijabat - Jakarta

In view of the limited defense budget, the government and the military should form a strong synergy with research centers, universities and financial institutions to build a modern defense industry subordinate to the country's national defense system, military and defense experts say.

According to the experts, the government has to show a strong commitment to gradually raising the defense budget and pursuing self-sufficiency in its arsenal supply, while universities and research centers have to play their own roles in conduct research in developing military technology.

Prof. Said D. Jenie of the Ministry of Research and Technology said that the Indonesian Military (TNI) had listed certain technology and weaponry that needed to be built in cooperation with non-department government agencies (LPNDs) and their research centers.

"The TNI's need for military equipment in strategic intelligence, defense, security and logistical matters is within the domain of LPNDs' capability and, therefore, close cooperation between the relevant parties should be enhanced to achieve self-sufficiency in the defense field," he said in his paper presented during a round-table discussion on the defense industry here on Wednesday.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who officially opened the discussion, expressed his commitment to increasing defense spending to between 3percent and 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the current 1 percent in a bid to build a modern defense force.

Jenie explained that the country's LPNDs -- Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), National Aeronautics and Aerospace Agency (Lapan), National Atomic Agency (Batan), National Agency for Research and Application of Technology (BPPT), Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) and TNI's research centers -- had their own fields of expertise in research, development, engineering and operations.

Budhi Santoso, president of state-owned arms manufacturer PT Pindad in Bandung, West Java, said that to be realistic in terms of global weaponry systems development and the country's large territory and potential threats, the time has come for the country to start developing nuclear and missile technology in its defense system through transfer of technology, forward (or classical) engineering, or reverse engineering.

"Research centers, defense industries and universities should form three main groups in developing missile technology. If Indonesia cannot obtain the technology through bilateral cooperation with other countries, we can do it through forward engineering or reverse engineering," he said.

He said that Pindad, state-owned electronic firm PT LEN, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Army have studied rapier missile technology by dismantling a rapier missile.

D. Sasongko, dean of ITB's industrial technology department said ITB, the University of Indonesia in Jakarta and Gadjahmada University in Yogyakarta had qualified human resources that could be involved in conducting research and experiments in developing the modern industry.

ITB, for example has many experts in nuclear technology, aeronautical engineering, biotechnology and remote sensing technology while UI has many experts in defense studies.

I Dewa Putu Rai, deputy chief of the National Planning and Development Board
(Bappenas), called on commercial banks to help finance research programs in military technology and provide credit to defense industries to produce the necessary military equipment and machinery.

"The country should no longer depend on the export credit in arms purchases because such a mechanism is no longer adequate in meeting the demand for military equipment it needs at present," he said.

In addition, the government also plans to regroup all military business entities into a major holding company to make them more profitable in a bid to enable the military to cover its annual routine expenditure and improve its personnel's social welfare, who number 500,000.

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Source: The Standard Times
Date: 29 Jan 2005

Indonesia children suffering
U.N. calls tsunami relief inadequate
By Chris Rummitt (Associated Press writer)

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- One in eight children in Indonesia's Aceh province are malnourished, disease still stalks refugee camps and relief deliveries are erratic more than a month after a tsunami devastated the region, U.N. officials said yesterday.

Securing aid deliveries -- as well as how to cement a brittle cease-fire in their three-decade conflict -- were the focus of talks yesterday in Finland between the Indonesian government and Aceh rebel leaders that were spurred by the tsunami. Separately, Tamil Tiger insurgents in tsunami-hit Sri Lanka said they were temporarily putting their separatist struggle on hold to focus on the disaster.

On Thailand's resort island of Phuket, delegates from dozens of countries debated where a regional tsunami warning system should be based and what technology is needed to make it work.

Despite the bleak humanitarian review in Aceh, the overall picture was one of improvement, a senior U.N. official told The Associated Press. Aceh bore the brunt of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, which killed between 145,000 and 178,000 people in 11 countries and left tens of thousands more missing and feared dead.

"We know there are needs that are not being met," said Bo Asplund, the U.N. representative in Indonesia, speaking in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh. But the world body was "no longer worried about (whether) anyone is starving. The schools are reopening. That is a sure sign of recovery."

One U.N. report said unsanitary conditions are appalling in refugee camps along Aceh's west coast -- the closest land to the earthquake's epicenter. Some camps have no latrines, forcing people to defecate in fields or near rivers and ponds where they also bathe.

Asplund acknowledged the conditions, but said the situation was "well onto the path of recovery."

In a separate report, the United Nations said 12.7 percent of children in Banda Aceh are malnourished -- a condition that stunts growth, retards mental development and weakens the immune system. The situation, which UNICEF described as a "critical emergency," could be even worse outside the city, it said.

In Calang, a devastated city on Aceh's west coast, children have dry skin and pale lips, signs of malnutrition, said Dr. Epi, who like some Indonesians uses only one name. They have only rice, crackers and noodles to eat and lack enough protein-rich food such as meat and fish.

Meanwhile, the United Nations said yesterday that although most emergency needs of victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami had been met, the early recovery effort looming ahead still needs millions of dollars.

The United Nations appeal for $977 million for the first six months of emergency tsunami relief work has received pledges of $799 million but funding gaps still exist.

Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the U.N. Development Program, told U.N. members in a briefing yesterday that "only small pledges" have been made for early recovery efforts, such as providing shelter, digging wells, clearing roads, repairing boats, unblocking irrigation canals and distributing tools and seeds.

More than 60 countries have pledged around $7 billion to help the tsunami victims but this includes long-term reconstruction aid.

Brown said the U.N.D.P. needed $175 million, but pledges and commitments only came to $58 million, leaving a funding gap of $117 million. Other agencies had received less than half the money they needed, he said.

He urged donors to convert their generous pledges into contributions, "please as quickly as you can."

He also called on them to remain committed. "Please, please as the cameras start to go away, sustain your interest and commitment in rebuilding even as this terrible disaster leaves the headlines."

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Source: The Age (Melbourne)
Date: 30 Jan 2005

Concern Over Aid as Emergency Effort Ends
By Mark Forbes

Banda Aceh - The emergency stage of the relief operation in Indonesia's Aceh is over but chaotic logistics are hindering aid distribution, according to the United Nations.

The UN's top official in Indonesia, Bo Asplund, told The Sunday Age that civilian agencies would soon take over from Australian and other military forces in the tsunami-ravaged province.

He said he was concerned about an aid bottleneck in the town of Calang and the difficulties of delivering supplies to thousands of displaced Indonesians.

When The Sunday Age flew to Calang, mountains of aid supplies overshadowed the beachfront, with large piles of food and clothing exposed to the elements.

Some locals complained that the best quality food had been confiscated by the Indonesian military, which was controlling aid storage in the town.

Mr Asplund said the situation in Calang "doesn't look like a very pretty picture... there's been a large number of drops there and yesterday I saw them sitting in the sun and I wasn't very happy."

Only 800 of 10,000 people survived the 30-metre-high wave that wiped the town, once the second-largest on Aceh's west coast, off the map.

Chris McCann, a World Food Program official in Calang, said it had been a great effort for the aid to arrive in Calang, but some oversupplied items such as clothing were not a priority.

Although aid agencies, not the army, were meant to be controlling the aid, Mr McCann said "the military is the only structure to bring order to the chaos, we have to use them".

Another WFP worker, Tommy Thomson, said it was impossible to distribute the aid as all vehicles in the area had been swept away in the tsunami.

Road rebuilding should enable the distribution of the stockpiles, he said.

Captain Amrul of the Indonesian army said his troops were providing storage and security for the arriving aid. When The Sunday Age began to photograph the aid mountains, he shouted "don't disgrace our country".

Also overseeing the aid for local authorities was wave survivor Amran. "The better food was taken by the army and the worst food was given to the people," he said.

Amran said he was grateful for the aid being sent. "Before the aid came, we didn't eat for five days, now I am not hungry."

Food supplies were now reaching almost all the 400,000 displaced Indonesians on Aceh, Mr Asplund said.

"We are beyond the immediate relief stage, that's quite clear," he said. "We are now worrying about issues like getting kids to school, preventing outbreaks of disease, providing livelihoods to people. The military assetst end to be in the relief stage, then as things move forward, they move away."

The UN had prepared a plan to gradually take over from the military, Mr Asplund said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Cumming, commander of the Australian Engineers in Aceh, agreed that "the emergency part of this operation is over and we are now seeing the support stage, which is often carried out by civilian agencies".

The Australian Government would decide the specifics and timing of the withdrawal from Aceh, he said.

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Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Date: 30 Jan 2005

Meagre Food Supply Stunting Tsunami Kids
By Chris Brummitt (The Sun Herald) in Banda Aceh

One in eight children in Indonesia's Aceh province are getting so little food that their growth is threatened, two UN reports say.

And disease stalks refugee camps, with relief deliveries still erratic more than one month after a tsunami devastated the region.

"We know there are needs that are not being met," said Bo Asplund, the UN representative in Indonesia, speaking in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.

But the world body was "no longer worried about [whether] anyone is starving", he said. "The schools are reopening. That is a sure sign of recovery".

One UN report said unsanitary conditions were appalling in refugee camps along Aceh's west coast, the closest land to the earthquake's epicentre.

Some camps have no toilets, forcing people to defecate in fields or near rivers and ponds where they also bathe.

Mr Asplund acknowledged the conditions, but said the situation was "well onto the path of recovery".

In a separate report, the UN children's agency said 12.7 per cent ofchildren in Banda Aceh were malnourished - a condition that stunts growth, retards mental development and weakens the immune system.

The situation, which UNICEF said was a "critical emergency", could be even worse outside the city, it said.

"It's a scary finding... unless we improve water and sanitation in the camps where these children are staying, it's going to get worse," said Ali Mokdad, a US researcher in charge of a UNICEF survey team.

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Source: Aceh Kita
Date: 31 Jan 2005


AWG (Aceh Working Group) Asks the Government to Study the Special Authority Body
Reporter: AK-25 - Jakarta, 2005-01-31 13:23:22

Jakarta, Acehkita. AWG (Aceh Working Group), asks the government to re-study to form the BOK (Badan Otorita Khusus) - Special Authority Body to handle post-disaster Aceh.

AWG coordinator, Rusdi Marpaung explains the need of the government to wait inputs and readiness from the other cities in Aceh, which do not suffer from the disaster, before taking the direct policy to form the BOK. This step in necessary so that the society will be able to directly involved in rebuilding Aceh.

"Emergency respond, rehabilitation, and reconstruction, is done to guarantee the freedom of civil society to be involved in the planning process, the execution, supervising, and result, Rusdi said in an AWG press conference in Imparsial Office, Menteng, Jakarta on Wednesday (26/1).

According to AWG, the forming of BOK will only open a business opportunity for those with enough capitals. If that happens, they will only put the people of Aceh and Sumatra Utara as an object.

Meanwhile, AWG also sees that the government has not seriously taking care of the truce with GAM. 60 thousands of TNI personnel made the humanity mission does not run well because their status is not clear.

AWG records, that there are 34 weapon contacts, and at least 100 abusive actions in various forms, such as physical contact, intimidating, capturing and detention without clear reasons. Besides, Combined Intelligent operation does nothing but limiting the working rooms for volunteers and concentration of aid falls in military hands.

Only GAM intents to maintain truce, Indonesian government has not officially done that," said Otto Syamsudin Ishak, one of the AWG activists.

This has to do ith the second civil emergency in Aceh, already in the second month. That way, AWG has seen that there are redundancies law and political interests in the recovery process of Aceh. With som many military personel, AWG said that the peace talk with GAM would not run smoothly. Meanwhile, humanity operation needs a peaceful situation to ensure economical, social, cultural, and political rights of a civilian. [dan]

Crisis in Aceh ~ Dos and Don'ts in Visiting Aceh

I found the following articles quite interesting... written by Indonesian (Andreas Harsono for Inter Press Service News Agency) as part of Tsunami Impact series. An array of experiences and thoughts that give us a glimpse into what's happening to volunteers, journalists, and relief workers on the ground as well as what the ordinary locals face in the media about Aceh and the impact of this catastrophy.

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Dos and Don'ts in Visiting Aceh

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Jan 31 (IPS) - If one wants to visit Aceh, probably to be involved in humanitarian work or just hang out as a ''tsunami tourist'', which is quite the trend here, there are some dos and don'ts they should consider.

Firstly, don't expect to sleep in a hotel. Do bring your own sleeping bag and mattress.

If you come in a group, do rent a house.

But rentals are pretty high though. It is the rule of supply-and-demand at work, with Aceh's few houses and an insatiable demand from aid agencies, U.N. workers and journalists. Do also have a heart for the more than 800,000 Acehnese who lost their homes - for them it's a choice of sleeping out in the open or in relief centers.

Before the Dec. 26 tsunami hit, spawned by a huge 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Meulaboh in Aceh's western coast, Aceh was a forbidden land for foreign non- governmental organizations (NGOs). Only those with good ties with the Indonesian government were allowed it.

In the 1970s, there were less than 10 international NGOs having offices in the capital Banda Aceh. Now, the provincial capital seems to be tsunamied by an outpouring of international kindness.

To date after the tsunami, according to Laura Worsley Brown of the Banda Aceh Media Center, which coordinates emergency relief information between all the aid groups, there are 199 foreign NGOs and 259 media organizations working in the province.

Their arrival, obviously, has caused prices of basic commodities to skyrocket.

On the scene are big news names such as 'Reuters', 'Associated Press', 'BBC' and 'Kyodo' as well as international relief agencies such as World Vision, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The ones operating on small budgets, both journalists and aid volunteers, are what the locals describe as the ''parachute operators'' - those that visit for a while, getting some news footage and working with the victims on a short term basis. Then, they soon leave.

The co-operation between country missions, too, has been exemplary.

''In our place, the South Korean mission fumigated all the mosquitoes and flies. It is pretty safe now for us,'' Cuban medical doctor Lazaro Orlando told IPS.

Mosquitoes and flies are, indeed, a huge concern.

Mosquito repellent is a must and everyone, here seems to wear wearing surgical masks to keep out the flies from either entering their nostrils or mouth.

Disease-spreading insects aside, there is also the problem of perception of the disaster area.

While more than 95,000 Indonesians have been buried and a further 133,000 are listed as missing, presumed dead, in the province - most parts of Aceh are still green with many areas still intact.

Aceh is huge - with a large interior - but network TV news transmission has done injustice to it. It seemed that the whole province was wiped out by the tsunami. But it hasn't.

The killer waves only devastated the coastal areas from Ule Lhee, near the provincial capital, to Nias Island - about an hour's flight time from Banda Aceh.

The colossal damage can be explained in the following terms.

Aceh's coastal areas, like most human habitats worldwide, are mostly urban centers with bustling commercial areas and trading outposts.

When the killer waves struck, the entire physical infrastructure along the coastlines collapsed like a pack of cards. The destruction was just phenomenal.

Witnesses said the waves went inland as far as five kilometers. ''It was as tall as the sky,'' said Abdul Hanan, an orphaned boy, who lived in Lamno, near Banda Aceh.

Artine Utomo of 'TPI', a television station in Jakarta, correctly concluded that the tsunami victims are mostly middle and upper class people. ''They had solid houses made of bricks, owned shopping areas and ran solid businesses.''

''Now all that is gone,'' added Utomo.

Simpang Lima is an intersection in downtown Banda Aceh, once a place where teenagers donned their Sunday best or men sipped their black coffee in a famous shop located in a row of shops between the Baiturrahman mosque and the Catholic cathedral.

Sadly, it is a ghost town today.

Some Acehnese believe spirits of the dead are haunting the tsunami-hit areas.

''I pulled a corpse by the head. I pulled it too hard. The body became headless,'' said Adi Suryana, a volunteer of the Aswaja Foundation - a local relief agency. ''So I scrambled to collect his teeth, his ears, his other body parts: collecting them and putting them immediately into the body bag. I don't want to be haunted.''

Motorists and motorcyclists are now avoiding major streets in the capital where thousands of dead bodies lay scattered for more than a week.

''In the first four days, people were on their own, looking for their lost relatives. We did not care yet about the dead bodies. Only on the seventh day, we began to clean up the streets,'' said Zurnalis, Suryana's colleague.

Residents call people like Suryana the ''Burma Teams''. ''Burma'' is an acronym for ''pemburu mayat'' -- which in Indonesian means ''the corpse hunters''.

''I would like to say that the real 'Burmas' are the Indonesian marines and the Malaysian soldiers,'' said Suryana, adding that these two groups retrieved most of the bodies. (END/2005)

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Goodbye World, We Can Do It Alone - Indonesia's Kalla

JAKARTA, Jan 23 (IPS) - The world has come together to aid survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami, and by large it has been welcomed in the tsunami-hit countries in South and South-east Asia. Yet in Indonesia's Aceh province, the welcome is proving awkward and signs are emerging that there is paranoia about the presence of foreigners on Indonesian soil.

Early this month some Indonesian legislators, especially members of the Muslim-based Prosperous and Justice Party (PKS) and the Golkar Party, which dominates the parliament, raised the issue of foreign troops being a ''threat to Indonesia's sovereignty'' in Aceh in northern Sumatra - which has been the hardest hit in the Dec. 26 tsunami.

The death toll in Aceh and northern Sumatra stands at more than 166,000 of the over 220,000 deaths reported so far. The number of homeless in Aceh is estimated at 800,000.

Hidayat Nur Wahid, a PKS member and currently the speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, said that the arrival of U.S., Australian as well as other foreign troops to help the tsunami victims should be controlled.

''They should go out within a month,'' said Hidayat, adding that his party is worried some foreign soldiers as well as the international aid workers might help ''Christianise'' the predominantly Muslim Acehnese.

Such concerns were soon brought up in a cabinet meeting led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Presidential spokesman Alifian Mallarangeng declined to reveal who brought up this issue in the meeting but the cabinet agreed to set the withdrawal deadline in three months time.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who attended the meeting, later told the media that ''foreigners should get out of Aceh as soon as possible.''

''Three months are enough. The sooner (they leave), the better,'' he added.

Indonesians, not foreign troops, according to Kalla, should take charge of caring for those who lost their homes to the tsunami. When asked about long-term relief efforts, he said: ''We don't need foreign troops.''

Up to now, the international relief efforts in Aceh have gone on smoothly with some 1,700 foreign troops having joined hands with 2,500 foreign aid workers and volunteers.

But a combination of nationalism, xenophobia and the inability of Indonesia to deal with Aceh's violent past, may work against the huge international relief effort at the expense of 800,000 homeless Acehnese.

Aceh has been almost entirely closed to any international presence due to military operations there against the Free Aceh Movement - known by its Indonesian acronym as GAM -- which has been fighting for independence since 1976. More than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since then.

The government put the province under martial law on May 19, 2003 before reducing this to a state of civil emergency one year later.

Ironically, Hidayat and Kalla's statements have found resonance in many Indonesian circles that are opposed to the United States.

For one, U.S. forces aren't anybody's pin-up heroes after the bad publicity they received from the Abu Gharaib prison atrocities in Iraq. Indonesian newspapers have carried the prison scandal pictures in full and that has only fuelled resentment against them. Many Indonesian Muslims see the U.S. troops as staunchly anti-Islam.

Nonetheless, many have termed Kalla's statement as short-sighted and are concerned about Indonesia's actual capacity to cope with post-disaster management if it had to do it all by itself.

The vice-president, an advocate for the implementation of Islamic law in Indonesia, is also the chairman of Indonesia's disaster coordinating body.

Nono Anwar Makarim of the Jakarta-based Aksara think tank called Kalla's statement as one bordering on ''xenophobia''. He made the reference in a column for the 'Kompas' daily newspaper.

Makarim also castigated both Kalla and Hidayat for raising the issue of the adoption of Acehnese children by so-called ''Christian foreigners'' - which has been played up by the mainstream media here.

In hitting out against the two Islamic nationalists, the columnist wrote a story on two children just to illustrate their narrow mindedness.

The two Indonesian children were orphans and abandoned by their communities, he said. ''Later, they were adopted by a North American family,'' said Makarim.

''The eldest son is now studying in a top Texas college while the daughter has just finished university and is working in a medical company,'' he added.

In the column's punch-line, Makarim wrote: ''To see how happy they are, I forgot to ask about their religion.''

Interestingly, another concern came from Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, the chief of the Indonesian military, whose 40,000 soldiers practically control Aceh. Sutarto revealed the Indonesian military only has five cargo airplanes and seven helicopters.

''What can we do with these five Hercules and seven choppers? Do you think we could bring the cargo from (Aceh's provincial capital) Banda Aceh to Meulaboh (the worst hit area) by bicycles?" he was quoted by 'Tempo' magazine as saying.

Banda Aceh has the longest airstrip in the area and Meulaboh is the on the province's western coast. It takes only 30 minutes to reach Meulaboh by helicopter but nearly 20 hours by motor-boat.

U.S. troops are using 17 Black Hawk, six Chinhook and two Super Puma helicopters to deliver emergency relief supplies inland. These helicopters are backed up by four Hercules transport aircraft.

From the Australian side, four Hercules transport carriers and four helicopters are in action. In total, there are more than 50 helicopters and 20 cargo planes used by international troops in the global relief effort.

Ironically, if the logic of the ''foreign'' and ''non-foreign'' presence is used in Aceh, many Acehnese would consider the Javanese as the ''unwelcome guests.''

GAM rebels officially consider ''the nation of Java with the national capital Jakarta'' as the colonial ruler of Aceh. The separatists have even refused the Bahasa Indonesia spelling of Aceh, insisting instead on the use of the word 'Acheh' - as the region was known in 1873 when the 'Achehnese' sultanate fought against the Dutch colonisers.

The confusion over the disaster management in Aceh stepped into another sad phase when President Yudhoyono on Jan. 17, just five days after the cabinet meeting, held another meeting and criticised Kalla's disaster management body. He ordered the establishment of an autonomous body to supervise the reconstruction of the province, saying that the disputed ''deadline'' - to get foreign troops out -- was only a ''timeline''.

That Yudhoyono went into damage control is understandable. Aceh, could be the new president's biggest test, and the barometer by which his entire five-year term will be judged. (END/2005)

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Narrow Minded Nationalism in Aceh Aid

JAKARTA, Jan 11 (IPS) - It began quite mysteriously through mobile phone text messages just days after the Dec. 26 undersea quake and resultant killer waves flattened the province of Aceh in northern Sumatra, killing over 100,000 people.

The messages were short and clear. They warned Indonesian Muslims that Christians were adopting Acehnese orphans, presumably to be taken out of Aceh and then converted to Christianity.

In the capital Banda Aceh, activists of the Muslim-based Prosperous and Justice Party later put up posters in public spaces with this warning: ''Don't let Acehnese orphans be taken away by Christians and their missionaries.'' The party also printed their telephone numbers, encouraging the public to hand over orphans to Muslim child-care centers instead.

The United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, puts the number of affected children, including those who have been orphaned, injured or traumatised by the disaster -- which devastated coastline communities along the Indian Ocean -- at close to 1.5 million across south and south-east Asia.

In the worst hit Indonesian province of Aceh alone, close to the epicentre of the earthquake, some 35,000 children are estimated to have been affected.

Hence, it is only natural for one to be moved by the plight of these destitute children.

Kristiani Herrawati, who visited Aceh with her husband, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, also took the initiative to show compassion and wanted to adopt a 13-year- old Acehnese boy, Muhammad Dede Nirwanda.

In the second week after the disaster, Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who also heads the national disaster center, announced that he would include the Indonesian Council of Ulemas to help decide on the adoption of Acehnese orphans.

''We will help the children to keep their faith. No adoption could be done without the ulemas' (Islamic clergymen's) supervision,'' he said.

The media of Palmerah, a Jakarta neighborhood where top newspapers and TV channels are headquartered, played up Kalla's statement. But not a single media outlet could quite explain what prompted the vice-president and Muslim activists to focus on religion when the bulk of attention was on how to get emergency aid fast to the tsunami survivors.

In Kalla's statement, the innuendo was palpable: relief services had been motivated by religious considerations. Perhaps such worries had been sparked because international relief organisations -- whose workers are mostly westerners and presumably Christians -- were among the first to rush to Aceh.

But it seems more a case of paranoia: there is nothing to suggest that international relief workers are keen to take away Acehnese children and neither have Indonesian churches demonstrated such altruism.

''Just report it to me if there are churches doing this,'' said Nathan Setiabudi of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia.

Aceh has an immense symbolic importance for Muslims who constitute 88.3 per cent of Indonesia's 201 million citizens, according to the 2000 census. It was the seat of the first Islamic kingdom in the archipelago in the 13th century, when its neighbors were under Hindu or Buddhist rulers.

But Aceh is also the home to a secessionist movement, though not one prompted by religion. Still, with Muslims comprising 97.3 per cent of Aceh's 1.7 million citizens, the adoption issue, however imaginary, worries many Islamic activists, including Jusuf Kalla -- himself a Muslim.

Since 1976, the Free Aceh Movement or GAM has battled the Jakarta government in a war that has claimed more than 10,000 lives. The rebels contend that the Javanese, the dominant ethnic group in Indonesia, annexed Aceh illegally when the Republic of Indonesia was founded in 1945.

In 1979, the authoritarian Suharto regime began a military operation to crush the rebels. General Suharto did not succeed in his move. In May 2003, the post-Suharto Indonesian government again placed the province under strict military control and isolated the area in an attempt to crush the rebels. Human rights groups and victims' families have charged that Indonesian troops have singled out and killed civilians suspected of being rebel supporters.

In a bid to pacify the rebels, Jakarta also granted Aceh partial autonomy that permits the limited implementation of Islamic law. Although the separatists are devout Muslims they have rejected autonomy saying that independence is more important to them than the rule of the land in accordance with Islam's tenets.

Aceh is now an internationally recognised disaster area after world leaders like U.S. State Secretary Colin Powell, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, World Bank President James Wolfensohn and many others visited the area to get a first-hand account of the extent of the destruction.

Besides the foreign dignitaries, Indonesians of various shades, too, have made their way there - from Islamic militant groups to students and politicians.

As of such, it is inevitable that politics now rears its ugly head in the distribution of relief aid.

The Indonesian military or TNI controls the distribution of emergency relief in Aceh, and GAM rebels have accused them of using the disaster as a pretext to carry out more attacks on the resistance. The TNI on the other hand claims that the rebels are stealing aid, although relief agencies, which have been travelling freely outside the main towns, have not reported any problems.

Bakhtiar Abdullah, a GAM spokesperson in their exile headquarters in Stockholm, welcomed the arrival of international relief workers, but deplored the presence of members of the ''thuggish so-called Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the terrorist Indonesia Mujahidin Council (MMI)."

''The actions and words of both the FPI and MMI are against the teachings of the Holy Quran and the Hadith and contradict the tolerance and faith of Achenese Muslims,'' said Bakhtiar.

''Neither the FPI nor the MMI has any credentials or skills in disaster relief, and their presence is clearly intended as a provocation to the people of Aceh,'' he added.

But the TNI has welcomed both groups, saying that they came to the province to help the tsunami victims. The media of Palmerah, too, has distanced itself from reporting on the GAM.

Meanwhile, the mainstream press is fanning suspicions that the U.S. troops helping out in the relief efforts could be providing assistance to the GAM rebels instead. During the past nine days, U.S. Navy helicopters have rushed food, water and medical supplies to areas that are likely to remain inaccessible and in desperate need for weeks.

But President Yudhoyono is trying to put a stop to these claims.

''The presence of foreign servicemen here is apolitical; they are conducting a humanitarian operation. After some time we will take over the operation, but for now we are grateful for their presence,'' he said.

But the president's admission, as well as his deputy's remarks, shows very well that sectarianism and narrow-minded nationalism are the hidden agendas in Aceh's relief operation. (END/2005)

Crisis in Aceh ~ Fruitless but Hopeful Peace Talks

Nancy's comment: The Jan. 28-29 talks between GOI (Government of Indonesia) and GAM (Free Aceh Movement) failed to produce a formal ceasefire. The GOI announced that its military offensive will continue. Talks are planned for late February, but there is doubt of real commitment to a peaceful resolution. Also, aid agencies say they are not targetted in the fighting - which means that GOI's and military's "security" measures (escorts and permission) are unnecessary. Interestingly, they do note that fighting should not delay aid delivery, although this has been the case in the past. The fact that over 200 have been killed since Dec. 26 - many allegedly civilians - has caused for concern itself. See below for more details.

Robert's comment:

1. The GAM have backed away from a demand for independence and have accepted to defer their struggle to allow relief & reconstruction to take place. This is a significant transformation akin to their acceptance of the call for a referendum (initiated by the Acehnese student movement in 1999) as opposed to their die-hard call for independence that had preceded this.


2. The Indonesian military has issued different signals about its commitments to peace: the central authority in Jakarta have called on local troops to cease-fire; the local TNI commanders/troops have ignored them (the recent declaration by local TNI of having killed 200 'GAM' is testimony to this);


3. The Indonesian military has issued contradictory statements regarding its commitment to humanitarian relief/operations: first claiming to commit two-thirds of troops to such operations, then 4 battalions which would be 10% of troops. The TNI had made public the actual percentage of troops committed to humanitarian relief and it was actually quite low. Plus all the problems we're familiar with regarding its incompetence (see inter-agency report by WHO issued last week), corruption (see articles detailing diversion, number-fudging on IDP counts), and brutality (see face of Farid, anti-corruption crusader recently beaten by TNI officer and shown on TV; articles on Acehnese urging that foreign militaries stay because of fear of TNI return to true form).

Let's continue pressing for the ceasefire, longer peace process, and permanent peace for Acehnese.

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Source: Reuters AlertNet
Date: 29 Jan 2005

Key facts on Aceh conflict, peace talks

HELSINKI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) ended talks in Finland on Saturday with an agreement to meet again soon to seek a lasting peace deal.

Following is background to the conflict:

• Aceh is located on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Banda Aceh is the capital. About 98 percent of the four million population is Muslim.


• Aceh bore the brunt of the Dec. 26 tsunami. An estimated 230,000 of its inhabitants were killed or are missing.


• GAM -- Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, Free Aceh Movement in English -- has fought for independence from Indonesia since 1976. About 12,000 people, mostly civilians, are estimated to have been killed in the conflict.


• GAM considers Prince Hasan di Tiro the rightful head of state and Malik Mahmud its prime minister. Most of the group's leadership has lived in exile in Sweden for decades.


• Negotiations between Jakarta and GAM began in 2000. In late 2002 Indonesia offered a deal giving the Acehnese more say over their affairs, but ruled out an independent Acehnese state.


• Talks in Tokyo collapsed in May 2003 when each side complained of the other's interpretation of a December 2002 truce. The next day, the Indonesian military launched an offensive to crush GAM and imposed martial law, later substituted by a state of civil emergency.


• In 2004 Amnesty International said the military offensive was ruining the Acehnese people's lives and New York-based Human Rights Watch said Indonesian soldiers routinely abused detainees suspected of links to the rebels.


• Indonesia's military says it has killed more than 200 GAM fighters since the Dec. 26 tsunami.


• In Jan. 28-29 talks in Helsinki, the two sides discussed the humanitarian crisis in Aceh and a ceasefire to allow relief work to continue, and agreed to meet again soon. Finnish mediators said Jakarta's offer of limited autonomy formed the basis of the talks.


• Aceh is a major contributor to Indonesia's oil and natural gas output. U.S. energy giant Exxon Mobil Corp operates there.


• Aceh was one of the first parts of Indonesia to adopt Islam and one of the last to come under Dutch colonial rule.

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Source: Channel News Asia
Date: 30 Jan 2005

Four rebels killed in Indonesia's Aceh as peace talks proceed in Finland

Indonesia's military said it had shot dead four separatist rebels in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province while government and rebel leaders were engaged inceasefire talks in Finland.

Military spokesman Edi Sulistiadie said army infantry shot dead the four FreeAceh Movement guerrillas during a skirmish Saturday in the village of Tanjong Punti in the east of the region.

The incident occurred as rebel leaders and government officials were engaged in talks in Finland aimed reconciling both sides in the three-decade struggle in Aceh to ensure it did not hamper efforts to aid tsunami survivors.

No formal ceasefire deal was reached by the end of the dialogue on Saturday, although it was agreed that further talks would take place, maintaining hopes that some kind of agreement may be reached.

But fears that diplomatic accords will have little effect on the fractious rebels and Indonesia's unbridled military seemed to be borne out by the latest clash, which came despite pledges on both sides to avoid conflict.

The skirmish broke out after soldiers spotted the four rebels trying to "disturb" residents in the village, Sulistiadie said, adding that one of them was Amin Syarif, a 40-year-old rebel commander.

Asked why the shooting had occurred despite the ongoing talks in Finland, Sulistiadie said: "The current position of the Indonesian armed forces is defensive-active. They fired at us first, so why shouldn't we fire back?"

However rebel sources said the four had been in the village to meet relatives because they assumed they would not be captured by authorities while ceasefire talks were ongoing.

Upon their arrival, armed Indonesian soldiers immediately surrounded their homes. Fighting then broke out.

Sulistiadie also accused the rebels of shooting dead a resident and critically wounding another in the northern Aceh district of Bireuen after they refused to donate money for the separatists' cause.

The Free Aceh Movement launched its struggle for independence in 1976, accusing Jakarta of plundering the north Sumatran province's valuable resources.

Repeated efforts to secure a lasting peace in the region collapsed in May 2003, prompting the government to impose martial law and unleash a major military offensive in which thousands have died.

Following the December 26 tsunami which killed up to 230,000 in and around Aceh, both the rebels and the government have returned to the negotiating table, agreeing to focus on the relief effort.

But observers say even if the two sides can find common ground, Jakarta faces a challenge reigning in its powerful military, which is reluctant to surrender its grip on Aceh, while the Sweden-based rebel leadership has little influence over rebel commanders in remote jungle bases.

Nevertheless former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, whose Crisis Management Initiative foundation is mediating the talks near Helsinki, said he was upbeat about the possibility of progress.

"I will be very disappointed if I do not succeed in this effort," he said on Saturday. "I will be working with the parties to try to get an agreement (on this), it will take some time, but I don't expect it to take months."

Ahtisaari said that though the two-day talks had failed to agree on a formal ceasefire, both sides said they would "try to refrain from hostilities" while aid operations in Aceh continued. (AFP)

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Source: Channel News Asia
Date: 30 Jan 2005

Indonesia says clearer agenda needed for peace in Aceh as fighting continues

HELSINKI: Indonesia said Sunday a clearer agenda was needed for dialogue with separatist rebels after talks in Finland failed to yield a formal truce, even as its troops killed four guerrillas in a new skirmish in tsunami-hit Aceh.

An Indonesian ministerial delegation met rebels, who are fighting for the independence of the north Sumtran province, for two days of talks near Helsinki aimed at securing a ceasefire to safeguard aid for disaster survivors.

But although mediators said they had lined up further discussions and were optimistic that an end to three decades of fighting was a possibility, there was no hoped-for formal ceasefire.

Underscoring the fragile situation on the ground in Aceh, where up to 230,000 people were killed by the December 26 disaster, government troops killed four rebels in a clash that took place while the talks were in progress.

The leader of the Indonesian delegation, senior security minister Widodo Adi Sucipto said while Jakarta had "never closed the doors for dialogue" but there would be no progress unless both sides agreed on a framework.

"Should there be more dialogue, the future talks have to provide a clear prospect for a solution," he told Indonesia's SCTV television station, speaking in Helsinki.

"Therefore there has to be an agenda and substance that must be jointly agreed before we move on to the factual talks," he added.

Indonesia has rejected point blank rebel demands for independence, offering special autonomy and amnesties in its stead. The rebels have yet to publicly respond to the offer.

Even if a deal can be reached, it could be difficult to persuade Indonesia's wilful military to abandon is fight in Aceh, while the fractious rebels may ignore directives from their leaders exiled in Sweden.

Both sides have already pledged to focus on humanitarian efforts in Aceh, where an enormous international relief operation is underway to help hundreds of thousands of tsunami victims.

But Indonesia's military said Sunday it had shot four rebels a day earlier in the east of the province, claiming they were returning fire on rebels who had arrived in a village to "disturb" residents.

Rebel sources said those killed had merely been visiting relatives and had been tempted out of their jungle hideouts believing that the ongoing ceasefire talks meant that they would be safe from government troops.

In Helsinki, mediators of the talks said the first contact between the two sides for 20 months had made progress, an a solution to the three-decade independence struggle was a possibility.

"I will be very disappointed if I do not succeed in this effort," said former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, adding he had invited the two sides back for more discussions.

"I will be working with the parties to try to get an agreement (on this), it will take some time, but I don't expect it to take months.

"The aim must be in this process to find a comprehensive settlement on the basis on the special autonomy, there is no other offer at the table," Ahtisaari said.

The rebel Free Aceh Movement began its campaign for independence in 1976, accusing Jakarta of plundering resources in the province, which was a separate state in pre-colonial times. More than 12,000 people have died in the struggle. (AFP)

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Source: Joyo Indonesia News
Date: 30 Jan 2005

Fighting, Futile Cease-Fire Talks Dim Aceh Peace Hopes

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Jan. 30 (AP) -- Fresh fighting in Indonesia's Aceh province and a premature end to cease-fire talks between the government and rebels dampened hopes of peace in the tsunami-hit region, but aid workers said Sunday they weren't being targeted and were optimistic the massive relief effort wouldn't be disrupted.

More bodies were still being discovered in Aceh five weeks after the disaster and the government said it had buried nearly 5,000 more victims in the past week, upping the death toll across 11 countries to between 150,704 and 178,115. Additionally, the number of missing ranges from 26,404 to 142,132 - with most presumed dead.

The variation in the tolls reflects differing figures being released by separate government agencies in both Sri Lanka and Indonesia, the hardest-hit countries in the Dec. 26 disaster.

The clash in Aceh occurred Saturday when soldiers shot and killed a guerrilla commander and three of his fighters in a gun battle in the east of the province, Indonesian military spokesman Lt. Col. Eddyana Sulistiadie said. Independent confirmation was not immediately available.

But the U.N. said it didn't expect the fighting to affect relief work.

"We don't expect to be a target," said Joel Boutroue, head of the U.N. relief efforts in Aceh. "I don't believe that this will hamper our access to populations made vulnerable by the tsunami."

Meanwhile, in other developments:

• Austria announced it would send a team of experts to Sri Lanka to help rebuild its rail system, which was badly damaged by the waves. Among the dead in Sri Lanka were about 800 people who were killed when the tsunami tore through their train as it traveled along the coastline.


• Thailand is to establish a tsunami museum to chronicle the plight of survivors and changes to the environment in areas devastated by the waves. Photographs, video footage, satellite images and interviews with survivors have already been collected, the Thai News Agency said.


• A meeting in Thailand of delegates from 47 nations approved a plan Saturday to set up a tsunami warning network for southern Asia. Delegates had originally planned for a centralized system, but failed to agree on where to base a hub that would collect seismic and oceanographic data, analyze it and issue alerts to coastal areas in danger. Experts say even a few minutes' warning could have saved many of the lives lost.

The Aceh peace talks were held near Helsinki, Finland, on Friday and Saturday. They ended a day early without a formal truce being reached, said former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who convened the meeting.

There was no word on why they ended prematurely. Indonesian Communications Minister Sofyan Djalil described the talks as "quite hopeful." Ahtisaari said neither party had yet accepted an invitation to a second round of meetings.

Both the insurgents, who have been fighting for an independent homeland in Aceh since 1976, and government forces declared an informal cease-fire after the tsunami. But the promises appear to have been ignored. The military says it has killed more than 200 alleged rebels since the disaster, raising concerns about the security of the relief operations in Aceh.

Aid groups said the early cutoff of the peace negotiations would not hamper their work.

"We don't have any comment on political negotiations but we will continue with our aid effort for as long as it is needed," World Food Program spokeswoman Heather Hill said.

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Source: Yahoo! News - Singapore
Date: 30 Jan 2005

Indonesia, Aceh rebels expected to meet again for peace talks

The Indonesian government and Aceh separatists are expected to meet again in Helsinki to continue peace talks, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, mediator of the negotiations, said after a first round of discussions wound up.

"I have extended an invitation to the parties for a second meeting in Helsinki," Ahtisaari told a news conference here.

The former career diplomat said he expected positive replies from the warring parties to continue with a new round of talks as soon as they had consulted with their respective camps.
"I will be very disappointed if I do not succeed in this effort," he noted.

"I will be working with the parties to try to get an agreement (on this), it will take some time, but I don't expect it to take months."

The talks, triggered by an agreed need to provide security guarantees for massive ongoing aid operations in the tsunami-shattered province, have mostly focused on a permanent resolution of the 29-year-long insurgency.

While the rebels seek independence from Jakarta for Aceh, a state in its own right in pre-colonial times, the Indonesian government is only willing to give the province a special autonomous status.

"The aim must be in this process to find a comprehensive settlement on the basis on the special autonomy, there is no other offer at the table," Ahtisaari said.

"I am impressed that there is a desire nevertheless, even if it doesn't meet the aspirations of GAM, that they have decided to probe whether something workable within that concept can be achieved."

As nearly a quarter of a million people died from the unprecedented natural catastrophe on December 26, the government and rebels have been under pressure from the international community to bring a halt to their drawn-out conflict.

Ahtisaari said he appealed to both sides to facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance.
On Friday, the two parties met face-to-face for the first time since the government in May 2003 declared martial law and launched a major military offensive in the province after a ceasefire between them broke down.

Through Friday and Saturday, the Indonesian government ministers had direct bilateral talks with the GAM leadership, without Ahtisaari present, he said.

Even though they failed to agree on a formal ceasefire, both sides said they would "try to refrain from hostilities" while aid operations in Aceh continue, Ahtisaari said, adding however that there was a need to formalize the uneasy truce.

"You can't keep that sort of situation lasting forever," Ahtisaari said.

"You have to use this time that we have at the moment, to seriously consider whether we can achieve through this process a comprehensive settlement on the basis of what we have in our hands. And that's what this process is all about."

The two-day talks that began Friday were the first time in 20 months that the government and the GAM rebel leaders came together and it was always unlikely that far-reaching accords could be reached.

"I don't think this has ever happened in this sort of form and it would not be realistic to assume that the parties will start loving each other from the first moment they meet," Ahtisaari said.

The former Finnish president said that there currently was a "window of opportunity" to reach a settlement to the conflict that has killed nearly 12,000 people since 1976, a chance the two sides should seize.

"I don't think we have an enormous amount of time either, the train is moving, you can't stop the political process, or humanitarian and reconstruction process," he stressed.
The negotiations took place under a veil of secrecy at a government-owned estate just outside Helsinki.

Ahtisaari said that he had earlier briefed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who had encouraged him to go on with the effort.

The meeting came to take place in Finland after representatives of his Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) foundation sounded out, with the warring parties in the final months of last year, the possibilities for peace negotiations, which were eventually triggered by the December 26 tsunami disaster.

The two parties were due to leave Helsinki later Saturday, a CMI spokeswoman said.

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Source: Joyo Indonesia News
Date: 31 Jan 2005

Aceh Rebels Willing To Wait For Independence Vote

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) -- Acehnese rebels said Monday they are willing to put their demand for secession on hold if Indonesia accepts a "face-saving" formula that would allow the tsunami-hit province to hold an independence referendum within five to 10 years.

The two sides held talks over the weekend in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, to consider a possible cease-fire and to reopen a peace process that was brutally broken in May 2003 by the Indonesian military. Although the meeting ended inconclusively, both sides have said negotiations will resume in February.

Teungku Adam, a rebel commander in Aceh who said he had been in touch with rebel negotiators in Scandinavia, said the Indonesian side wanted them to accept an autonomy package before agreeing to a formal cease-fire.

Adam said that when talks resume on Feb. 21, the Indonesian delegation will present the details of the autonomy package for the province of 4.1 million people on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

"We have said we will sit and listen, but that does not mean we will accept," he said. "How can they force us to accept when they are losing the war?"

"We will give them a face-saving deal - both sides will have to agree on a referendum within five or 10 years, and that will give the Indonesians an opportunity to win hearts and minds if they can do," Adam told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Although Free Aceh Movement separatists have in the past said they wanted a referendum on self-determination for Aceh, they never set a time frame for the plebiscite until now. They have always rejected Jakarta's plan for self-government, also known as "special autonomy."

Tens of thousands of people have died in the fighting that broke out in 1976. At least 15,000 have perished in the last decade.

in Jakarta, security minister Widodo Adi Sucipto who led the Indonesian delegation at the Helsinki talks, said the government remained committed to the peace process but would continue with military operations until a permanent solution is agreed on.

"The differences between the two sides are related to the special autonomy which constitutes the main platform for the Indonesian government in settling the conflict," he told reporters.

"The government wants a comprehensive and permanent solution," Widodo said.

And in a related development, a well-known human rights group in the province urged the United Nations to get involved in the peace talks saying the two sides "were not serious" about finding a peaceful settlement.

The non-governmental Information Center for a Referendum in Aceh also criticized Jakarta and the rebel Free Aceh Movement for not putting the interests of the people of the devastated region on the northern tip of Sumatra island ahead of "their narrow political interests."

"Hopefully, in their next meeting... a positive outcome will be reached based on the need for democracy and peace in Aceh," the group said. "The United Nations must use its influence to pressure both parties to... make peace."

The group advocates an internationally supervised referendum on self-determination for the region. Jakarta has refused this, fearing a repeat of the secession of East Timor, which broke away in 1999 after voting for independence in a U.N.-organized plebiscite.

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Source: Fairfax Digital
Date: 31 Jan 2005

Aceh rebels soften stance
By Matthew Moore in Jakarta

The mediator negotiating peace talks between warring sides in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province said the separatists have set aside their demands for independence to allow talks to continue.

Addressing a press conference in Helsinki after two days of negotiations, the former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, said he had invited both the Indonesian Government and representatives of the Free Aceh Movement, GAM, to resume talks soon, and would be "very disappointed" if they did not agree.

While GAM has for 30 years insisted it will accept nothing less than full independence from Indonesia, Mr Ahtisaari said the separatists had agreed to resume talks within the framework of "special autonomy" - a longstanding Indonesian Government offer that GAM in the past has always rejected.

"The aim must be in this process to find a comprehensive settlement on the basis of the special autonomy, there is no other offer at the table," Mr Ahtisaari said.

"I am impressed that there is a desire nevertheless, even if it doesn't meet the aspirations of GAM, that they have decided to probe whether something workable within that concept can be achieved."

Although it is early in this new peace process, the apparent agreement by GAM to discuss the idea of special autonomy is one sign that some progress might be possible in the first talks since a ceasefire collapsed in May 2003 and martial law was declared.

Another move welcomed by observers was the fact the Indonesian Government met members of the GAM's government-in-exile without any mediator present.

Mr Ahtisaari, the chairman of a Finnish conflict resolution group called Crisis Management Initiative, said the talks began by reviewing the humanitarian situation before discussing the elements of a peace agreement.

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Source: Financial Times
Date: 31 Jan 2005

Rebels ease stance on sovereignty
By Shawn Donnan in Jakarta

Exiled leaders of the separatist Free Aceh Movement have provisionally dropped demands for full independence for the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian province, raising hopes of a peaceful resolution to the long-running separatist conflict.

Two days of talks between Indonesia and Stockholm-based leaders of the separatist movement, known as GAM, ended in Helsinki this weekend without the announcement of a hoped-for ceasefire. But speaking after the talks, Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president who brought the two sides together, said each had started exploring the possibility of a comprehensive solution in the framework of special autonomy for Aceh.

He said he had invited both sides to meet again in Helsinki.

The Indian Ocean disaster killed more than 220,000 people in Aceh alone, and international pressure has grown to use the tragedy as an impetus for peace.

The rebels' concession was significant, close watchers of past peace efforts said, because it marked the first time GAM had agreed to enter negotiations without requiring full independence for Aceh.

It also meant the talks were aimed at finding an "end solution" for the conflict, they said, rather than another de facto ceasefire.

Bakhtiar Abdullah, a GAM spokesman, said: "We have to come to agreement firstly that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

But he added that the Helsinki talks had set "guidelines" for future discussions talks to be conducted around an Indonesian offer of special autonomy, adding that GAM was ready to accept a solution other than one requiring Aceh's eventual independence.

GAM, Mr Abdullah said, had accepted an invitation to future talks "in principle" that he expected to take place "sometime in the coming month".

Indonesian officials were more cautious. But the head of Jakarta's delegation, chief security minister Widodo Adi Sucipto, yesterday said any future talks needed to include a firmer agenda for progress.

Additional reporting by Rupini Bergstrom in Stockholm

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Source: Reuters
Date: 31 Jan 2005

Aceh peace talks could fail without tactics change
By Jerry Norton and Jim Loney

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Talks to end a decades-long conflict in Indonesia's tsunami-stricken Aceh province could be on a fast track to nowhere unless there are changes in positions and negotiating approaches, analysts said on Monday.

Senior Indonesian and separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) officials had said after weekend meetings in Helsinki -- the first such talks between the sides in nearly two years -- they agreed to work towards a lasting peace to help rebuild Aceh, which took the brunt of the Dec. 26 tsunami.

GAM leader Malik Mahmud, in self-exile in Sweden, spoke of "differences that need to be ironed out" but said the two delegations had formed "a close relationship".

Little else that was concrete emerged from the negotiations, however, and political analysts agree that as there appear to be no changes in the two sides' positions on issues of autonomy and independence, how they can break a deadlock is not clear.

"I'm pessimistic in the long term because there are some non-negotiable issues. GAM insists on independence. The government insists Aceh will never be allowed to secede. It's hard to get around that and see how you are going to have a dignified solution," said Ken Conboy, country manager at Risk Management Advisory in Jakarta.

The tsunami disaster left more than 230,000 of Aceh's four million people missing or dead, and devastated major sections of its infrastructure.

The tragedy helped bring about the Helsinki talks with both sides are under pressure from the international community, which is pouring aid into the province, to try to reconcile the differences behind a simmering civil war.

More than 12,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the war and the prospect it will continue raises questions about the safety of aid workers and the incentives for investors and donors to provide the billions needed for reconstruction in the gas-rich province at Indonesia's extreme northwest corner.

The Helsinki meeting would not necessarily do any harm, said Wimar Witoelar, a commentator and former presidential adviser, "but I fail to see how some people living in Stockholm and some government officials without real power in Indonesia can meet in a place like Helsinki and produce anything significant".

"I think the further you leave Aceh for a conference table in Scandinavia, the less probable a solution will come out."

Although the fighters in Aceh pay lip service to their officials halfway around the world, experts say in practice some factions consider the Swedish leadership out of touch with realities on the ground and tend to go their own way.

Similar comments on the importance of negotiating in Aceh itself came from Indonesian parliament member Suripto, a leader of the Prosperous Justice Party, a conservative Muslim party that is a rising political force.

"GAM has many factions and none of them are dominant, especially those that are based abroad. If they achieve an agreement, it would not be implemented by the groups in Aceh."

"We should talk with GAM members who are in the field, those who carry weapons, not the elites who like to talk on TV or radio," said Suripto.

GAM issued a declaration of independence for Aceh at the end of 1976. As military efforts to crush the rebellion intensified in the late 1970s, top GAM leaders left for Sweden, where they hoped both to find refuge and generate international support.

Suripto said he thought both sides had common goals after the tsunami, but it was not clear what the government would be willing to offer the rebels politically.

A preliminary peace deal reached in 2002 fell apart partly over the issue of autonomy.
The government view was that autonomy could not give way to full independence. GAM officials see autonomy as an interim step toward just that.

Proposals for a referendum on independence, meanwhile, run aground on the government's bottom line, since to accept holding such a referendum, even years into the future, would be to accept in principle that an independent Aceh is at least a possibility.

The autonomy Jakarta has offered Aceh is not visibly different from its past positions, which included major concessions toward self-rule, Islamic law, and a bigger piece of the economic pie from the province's resources -- but not independence.

A government offer of amnesty for GAM rebels appears to amount to saying if they yield their weapons they will not be imprisoned, leaving their political demands hanging.

(With additional reporting by Tomi Soetjipto in Banda Aceh and Sinta Satriana in Jakarta)