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BANDA ACEH - An official of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) exiled leadership arrived in Indonesia's Aceh province on Monday after a 25-year absence to see the peace process aimed at ending nearly three decades of conflict. The Stockholm-based GAM and Indonesia's government were pushed back to negotiations partly by the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated Aceh, and made some on both sides re-think the fight over whether Aceh should be independent.
The conflict had killed 15,000 people, mostly civilians, since it started in 1976. Bakhtiar Abdullah, the leading spokesman of GAM's leadership in Sweden, said he was at a loss for words after arriving in Aceh. He said he had been away for 25 years. "I don't know how I could describe my feelings returning to homeland Aceh. I am touched," he told reporters. However, he was prompt to comment on the peace process.
"You can see all the process has run smoothly ... beyond expectations," he said, adding he would stay in Aceh for the next 60 days to monitor the situation on the ground. "I am here to see how far we have gone. I don't want to be specific ... as there are friends here who know better," Abdullah said. Under the peace agreement, GAM is to be allowed to reincarnate as a local party that could participate in elections in Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
Asked whether he would run in those elections, Abdullah laughed and said: "Later. Later." Earlier this month, both sides had completed half the deal related to government troop withdrawals and GAM weapons surrender, and foreign monitors had said the overall process was proceeding without significant problems.
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