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“We are going to
focus on what is important for the Aceh people, on how we can
best use the international aid,” a GAM source said. (Reuters).
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HELSINKI, January
29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Brought together by the
tsunami disaster, humanitarian issues took central stage at peace
talks between Indonesian officials and Aceh separatists, which
resumed in the Finnish capital on Saturday, January 29.
“Due to
this huge catastrophe ... we have a chance to meet. We want to focus on
issues that we agree on, and not discuss difficult issues,” a
source with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
told Reuters.
The talks were
prompted by a recognition that peace was needed in the province to carry
out relief work after it was devastated by gigantic waves triggered by
a sub-sea earthquake on December 26, killing some 280,000 people
across south and southeast Asia.
“We are
going to focus on what is important for the Aceh people, on how we can
best use the international aid that is flowing to Bandar Aceh and Aceh
in general, and to make sure that the aid work is effective,” the GAM
source said.
He added
that in the second stage of talks both sides will discuss pressing
political issues, giving no details about the such new round of talks.
The tsunami wiped out
whole communities in Aceh, leaving millions without shelter, food and
basic sanitation.
Following the
disaster, both the government and the GAM called for a formal ceasefire
in order to facilitate the ongoing massive relief effort.
A huge international
emergency operation is now taking place there to relieve the situation,
though a report by a 34-member inter-agency team described the drive as
“chaotic”.
Going Good
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“Everything is
going good. At the moment I cannot reveal the content. I am
happy,” said Mahmoud (L). (Reuters)
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Malik Mahmoud,
prime minister of GAM's government-in-exile, which has been based in
Stockholm since the struggle began in 1976, said he was pleased by
the talks.
“Everything is going good. At the moment I cannot reveal the content. I
am happy,” he told Reuters on Friday, January 28.
Indonesian President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said last week Jakarta was offering “special
autonomy status”, which GAM has previously rejected.
But Prince Hasan di
Tiro, the man GAM considers the rightful head of state of Aceh, told
Reuters at his home in exile in Stockholm on Thursday that his aim was
independence for Aceh's four million people.
“We
have nothing to do with Java (Indonesia), Aceh is different,” said the
ailing octogenarian, who fled after declaring Aceh independent in 1976.
GAM leaders and a
high-level Indonesian delegation headed by three ministers arrived in
Helsinki on Thursday, January 27.
They initially met
separately with former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who heads the
Crisis Management Initiative foundation (CMI), which is hosting the
talks.
On Friday, January
28, the two parties met face-to-face for the first time since a
five-month truce between them broke down 20 months ago.
In March 2003, the
Indonesian government declared martial law and launched a major military
offensive in the province.
GAM
has been fighting for independence since 1976 and accuses Jakarta of
siphoning off the province's rich oil and natural gas resources.
