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Former rebels: Proposed law for Aceh province
violates peace accord
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JAKARTA (AP): Former rebels in tsunami-ravaged Aceh criticized a proposed law
seen as key to bringing permanent peace to the province, saying several articles
contradict the spirit of an accord signed last year.
The House of Representatives (DPR) is slated
to pass a law Tuesday that will allow the former rebels to create a political
party and gives the province up to 70 percent of the revenues from its natural
resources, including large natural gas and oil reserves.
But Munawarliza Zain, a spokesman for the
former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, said articles about the role of the
Indonesian Military (TNI) in Aceh and the extent of the central government's
authority are unclear and could foster distrust.
"It will disturb the democratization and
peace process," he said, as one of the legislator's preparing the bill sought to
assure former rebels that the accord was being honored.
Efforts to end a decades-long civil war in
Aceh -- led and directed by leaders living in Sweden holding Swedish
nationalities -- picked up pace after an earthquake struck off its coast in
December 2004, causing a tsunami that killed more than 131,000 people in the
province and left a half-million others homeless.
The rebels agreed to hand over all of their
840 weapons and gave up their demand for independence. The government agreed to
withdraw more than half of its nearly 50,000 troops from Aceh and to give the
province limited self-government and control over much of its mineral wealth.
So far the deal has stuck, with the help of
international peace monitors. But DPR has been slow to pass agreed upon
legislation, with some lawmakers saying the former rebels, who will also be
allowed to field candidates in upcoming elections, are getting too much.
Legislator Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, head of
the special committee preparing the bill, said lawmakers will on Monday meet
representatives of the people of Aceh, including the governor, mayors, and local
councilors, to explain the law.
"We want to know what parts of the law are
seen ascontradictory to the accord," he said, adding that the former rebels'
concerns may be based on a misunderstanding. (***) ++++ http://www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20060708.H05 'Systematic attempsts' to shatter Aceh peace National News - July 08, 2006
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta A human rights group suspects there have been
"systematic attempts" to shatter the peace in Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam. The Jakarta-based Aceh Working Group (AWG) said a
multipronged intelligence campaign had been underway to disrupt peace in Aceh,
following the peace agreement signed last August by the government and the Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki, Finland.
The most striking example of the campaign was the
recent spate of shootings in which four people were killed, including a former
GAM member, and several others injured, the rights group said in a statement
Friday.
Unidentified gunmen killed three farmers in a
forest in North Aceh on Thursday.
Earlier on Monday, a former GAM member was killed
in a shootout that involved Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers.
The fresh violence took place only days before the
House of Representatives passed the bill on Aceh governance into law.
The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) has dismissed
speculations the shootings were linked to separatist conflicts in Aceh. The AWG,
however, believes otherwise.
"The shootings were the peak of systematic attempts
to disturb the peace in Aceh," AWG's Otto Syamsuddin Ishak said.
He said the high incidence of armed robbery in Aceh
in recent months was another indication of an intelligence campaign.
"The armed robberies happened in a period when the
AMM had completed its task of disarming GAM; when the rebels should no longer
have been armed," he said.
Another worrying trend is the rising illicit trade
of small arms and light weapons.
"Most illegal small arms went to the members of
pro-Jakarta militia groups," Otto said.
The most visible trait in the systematic campaign
was the sudden presence of roving vendors in Aceh, even in remote regions.
"They peddle goods that are actually not needed by
poor Acehnese such as paintings, ice creams and electrical appliances and it is
strange to see them being sold in remote villages," Otto said, adding that the
peddlers were all well-built men and had the freedom to get into government
offices.
In some locations, the vendors were found to be
distributing stickers and leaflets that campaigned against peace in Aceh.
He said increased numbers of peddlers had also been
observed in other conflict zones such as Poso in Central Sulawesi, Maluku and
Papua.
Fellow activist Choirul Anam said the peace
monitoring team might encounter problems in dealing with the intelligence
campaign given its covert nature.
"The Helsinki peace accord has no provision to deal
with such an intelligent operation," Choirul said.
The AWG, however, suggested that the AMM enhance
cooperation with local police and human rights groups in the investigation into
the recent string of violent incidents.
"The military should be excluded from the
investigating team as it would only compromise its impartiality," Choirul
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