|
Indonesia prepares to pull last troops out of Aceh
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-29 14:06
The Indonesian military is set to withdraw its final contingent of more than
3,000 troops from Aceh, in a key step to implementing a peace pact with
separatists.
A total of 3,353 soldiers are due to withdraw from the North Acehnese port of
Krueng Geukeuh on five warships and a C-130 transport plane, officials said.
Spurred by the December 2004 tsunami catastrophe, which killed some 168,000
Acehnese, the Indonesian government signed an historic peace pact with the rebel
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in August.
Former military chief of the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) Muzakkir Manaf (R) walks with former rebel commander Sofyan
Daud after meeting journalists in Banda Aceh on December 28,
2005.[Reuters] | "We realize that eternal peace is the desire of all Acehnese. Let us create a
peaceful atmosphere and free the people of Aceh from fear and danger, both
physical and non-physical," Aceh military commander Supaidin Adi Saputra said.
"The flame of peace is burning and we must not let anyone extinguish it," he
told a crowd of hundreds of local Acehnese who assembled to witness the
departure ceremony.
He said former separatist rebels had the same rights as the rest of the
population and urged them to take part in rebuilding Aceh.
On hand for Thursday's ceremony was GAM representative Irwandi Yusuf and the
head of the 240-strong foreign mission monitoring the implementation of the
peace pact, Pieter Feith.
A student marching band played national songs at the ceremony.
Both sides dropped key demands as they negotiated in the wake of the natural
disaster, and the pact has so far progressed beyond expectations. Earlier peace
deals have collapsed amid acrimony and distrust.
The peace agreement stipulates that by the end of the fourth phase, only
14,700 soldiers and 9,100 police, all locally-recruited, will remain in Aceh.
Some 24,000 soldiers will have pulled out when the final batch leaves.
The separatist conflict claimed about 15,000 lives, most of them civilians,
from the beginning of GAM's struggle for an independent state at the westernmost
tip of the island of Sumatra in 1976.
The accord saw GAM drop its demand for independence in exchange for a form of
local government in Aceh, a province of more than four million people. The
government agreed to grant former fighters amnesties and allow them to start a
local political party.
GAM surrendered last week its final lot of 840 weapons it pledged to hand
over as part of the pact and dissolved its military wing this week.
Its members are now faced with the task of turning themselves into political
players with elections slated for April.
The deadline for the weapons handover and the troops pullout is December
31.
|
