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HELSINKI (FINLAND) - Aceh rebels and an Indonesian government delegation have arrived in Helsinki ahead of six days of talks aimed at bringing a lasting peace to the tsunami-ravaged region.
Rebel leaders said Monday they will demand that Indonesian troops cease all anti-insurgency operations in Aceh before discussing a solution for self-government.
"That's the most important point that has to be discussed before we move on to anything else," said Bakhtiar Abdullah, a spokesman for the Free Aceh Movement, locally known as GAM. Talks are set to begin Tuesday and end Sunday. In a statement received Monday, the rebels also demanded the release of four of their negotiators who were arrested by Indonesian authorities two years ago -- despite a government guarantee of safe-conduct.
After the December 26 tsunami devastated Aceh, the rebels proclaimed a unilateral truce saying they wanted to help rescue efforts. But the Indonesian military said it would continue combat operations until a formal cease-fire was signed, and the army commander has claimed his troops killed nearly 200 rebels in the first two months after the disaster. In January, the two sides met face-to-face for the first time since the peace process collapsed in 2003 when the Indonesian military launched a major offensive against insurgents in the oil-rich region. A second round of talks was held in late February.
Indonesia's vice president has predicted an agreement could be reached by July on the basis of the so-called special autonomy law which the government in Jakarta adopted three years ago but never implemented. Abdullah said the first two round of talks in Helsinki "may have brought (the two sides) a little closer together, but not much." "After this round we'll be able to tell in what direction things are heading," he said.
Maria-Elena Cowell, a spokeswoman for the Crisis Management Initiative, an institution formed by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari who has facilitated the talks, said the meetings will also focus on bringing self-governance to Aceh, and the integration of GAM into Indonesian society. "It's a challenging agenda," Cowell said. "And, of course, one cannot expect everything to be resolved right here, right now." The CMI will present the result of the negotiations at a press conference in Helsinki on Sunday.
An earlier peace process collapsed in 2003, when Indonesian generals opposed to a cease-fire arrested rebel negotiators, kicked out international observers and launched an offensive that has killed about 3,000 people. Human rights groups have accused government troops of executions, torture and rape of civilians in Aceh. They say most of those killed since the cease-fire collapsed have been unarmed villagers caught up in army operations.
The war in Aceh, one of the world's longest-running conflicts, has its roots in the occupation of the independent Aceh sultanate by Dutch colonialists in 1870.
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