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Acehnese civil society supports involvement of foreign parties

Aceh Kita - July 12, 2005

AK-1, Jakarta – The meeting between representatives of Acehnese civil society and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Stockholm on July 9-19 has resulted in a number of recommendations on Aceh’s future. The meeting, which was facilitated by the Olof Palme International Center, resulted in three main recommendations concerning Aceh post-tsunami, the peace process and the role of civil society in determining Aceh’s future.

On the question of the Aceh peace process, the meeting expressed the hope that the Helsinki negotiations will be able to create a situation which is peaceful, democratic and which respects human rights. “For as long as the conflict continues in Aceh, this cannot become a reality. Because of this therefore, civil society [groups] hope that the Helsinki dialogue will be able to produce an agreement to end the conflict”, they wrote in a press release.

In order to resolve the conflict, which has lasted for years, they see the need for the involvement of foreign parties. They are of the view that the involvement of the international community is something that has been commonplace in countries were an armed conflict is taking place. They then gave as an example international involvement in resolving the conflicts in Sri Lanka, Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Darfur Sudan. Because of this therefore, they expressed their appreciation to the European Union and ASEAN who have already sent delegations to Aceh.

Still on the issue of the peace process, they also support the demand for self-government which has been taken up by GAM and expressed their regret over the position taken by the governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) and the politicians in Senayan (parliament) who are opposing the Helsinki negotiations. In addition to this, the meeting, which was attended by scores of Acehnese civil society representatives also, urged the Indonesian government to declare a ceasefire.

The meeting also called on the conflicting parties to provide a sense of security, peace and an end to violence in order to restore the spirit of the Acehnese people who where inundated by the tsunami disaster which struck the country’s most western province.

Because of this therefore, a ceasefire between the Indonesian government and GAM needs to be put into place immediately in order to support the dialogue and process of recovery in Aceh. “This is in order to provide the maximum amount of space to the local and international community to fully participate in the process of rebuilding Aceh post-tsunami”, continued the press release.

The civil society representatives also called for the upholding of human rights, democracy and peace in Aceh. They also agreed to develop the consolidation and participation of society in the framework of advancing the peace process and reconstruction process. “Promoting the participation of Acehnese women in the peace process and reconstruction of Aceh [is essential]”, said the final point of their recommendations.

Today, the Indonesian government and GAM will hold the fifth round of negotiations in Helsinki. According to Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) who is facilitating the negotiations, they are in the process of preparing a draft agreement, which represent an initial peace deal. This draft has been formulated based on the points, which have been reached as “mutual understandings” during the four previous rounds of negotiations.

“The respective parties will discuss the draft agreement during the fifth round [of negotiations]”, said CMI chair Martti Ahtisaari who is also a former president of Finland. [dzie]

[Translated by James Balowski.]
 

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