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| Sunday, 18 September 2005 |
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Aceh rebels surrender more weapons BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Sept 17 (AFP) Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province on Saturday said they were handing over weapons in one of their strongholds to end the first phase of disarmament under a pact designed to end nearly three decades of war. The handover in Pidie district is the third following the surrender of 188 firearms in the capital, Banda Aceh, on Thursday and in Bireuen district on Friday under the peace agreement between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government signed in Helsinki on August 15. "It has taken place but the process has not yet finished," GAM spokesman Sofyan Dawod told AFP. The weapons were being surrendered for destruction by members of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), which was established under the Helsinki agreement. An AMM spokesman, Jueri Laas, confirmed the handover was underway. AMM comprises about 240 observers from the European Union and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is the EU's first peace-monitoring venture in Asia. GAM handed over 78 weapons on the first day of disarmament Thursday in Banda Aceh. An AMM source said another 110 weapons were surrendered in Bireuen. Irwandi Yusuf, a GAM official, has said a total of at least 210 weapons, or a quarter of the rebel's declared arsenal of 840, would be turned in to the AMM during the first phase. Further disarmament is to take place in three stages before December 31. The military and police will, in return, proportionately reduce to zero their troops which were sent to Aceh from elsewhere in the country. They will leave behind 14,700 soldiers from Aceh-based units and 9,100 local police. Observers see the Helsinki pact as the best chance yet of ending the conflict which has claimed about 15,000 lives, most of them civilians. GAM began its struggle for an independent state on the western tip of Sumatra island in 1976. Earlier truces in 2000 and 2002 collapsed and led to a massive government offensive in 2003. There was a renewed push for peace after the death of about 131,000 Acehnese in last December's earthquake and tsunamis. |
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