LAKSAMANA.Net, February 3, 2005 10:38 PM
Rebels Pressure Indonesia for Ceasefire
Laksamana.Net - Aceh's separatist rebels have called on the international community
to pressure Indonesia to agree to a sustainable ceasefire to ensure the continued
delivery of emergency aid to tsunami victims.
The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) made the call a week after talks with Indonesian
officials in the Finnish capital of Helsinki to discuss a possible ceasefire in the
aftermath of the December 26 earthquake and tsunamis that killed about 240,000
people in Aceh.
The talks were inconclusive, but the two sides agreed to hold further negotiations later
this month to discuss Indonesia's offer of special autonomy for Aceh.
Indonesia abandoned its last truce with GAM in May 2003 and then launched a
massive military operation to destroy the rebels.
There were hopes the deadly tsunami would encourage state troops to stop killing and
focus completely on helping with the disaster relief, but the military has said it will
continue to attack the rebels, accusing them of ambushing aid convoys.
GAM on Thursday (3/2/05) issued a statement from its Sweden-based headquarters
expressing full commitment to negotiating a formal ceasefire to achieve a lasting
peace.
The statement made no mention of the whether GAM would acquiesce to Indonesia's
requirements for peace: give up its independence struggle, surrender its weapons and
accept an offer of limited autonomy.
Following is the full text of the statement.
Statement by the Government in Exile of Acheh on the Historic Peace Talks in
Helsinki
THE STATE OF ACHEH
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
P.O. BOX 130, S-145 01 NOSBORG
SWEDEN
TEL : +46 8 531 83833 FAX: +46 8 531 91275
At the conclusion of the first round of the historic Helsinki talks, the
Government-in-Exile of Acheh (ASNLF) expresses its commitment to continuing the
Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) dialogue aimed at achieving a negotiated
settlement to the conflict in Acheh.
The ASNLF appreciates the efforts of the CMI and its Chairman, Mr Martti Ahtisaari,
in facilitating this dialogue, and looks forward to meeting again with representatives of
the Indonesian government under CMI auspices.
In expressing its full support for the January 28 statement by the Secretary General of
the United Nations, Mr Kofi Annan, the ASNLF reconfirms the need to find a
comprehensive political settlement to the conflict in Acheh in tandem with the
international humanitarian relief effort.
To this end, the ASNLF expresses its full and unstinting commitment to achieve
peace in Acheh and to negotiate a formal ceasefire that is the basis of such a peace.
The ASNLF requests that the international community (including the CMI, the United
Nations and the governments of concerned nations) urge the GoI agree to a
sustainable ceasefire to ensure the continued delivery of emergency aid to tsunami
victims.
The ASNLF expresses its great appreciation of the unprecedented efforts of the
international community in helping to relieve the suffering of our people and for its
program of reconstruction. It therefore also requests that the international community,
including the UN, representatives of foreign militaries, aid organisations and other
NGOs, remain in Acheh until the reconstruction process is complete and a
comprehensive and sustainable peace is achieved.
The ASNLF re-states its commitment to a negotiated comprehensive political
resolution of the Acheh conflict within a mutually agreed time-frame.
Stockholm, Sweden, 30 January 2005
Bakhtiar Abdullah
Information Officer
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