International peace monitors to leave Aceh for good
Source: Reuters
By Achmad Sukarsono BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Dec 9 (Reuters) - A Europe-led mission monitoring a peace pact in Indonesia's Aceh province has no plans to extend its stay beyond Dec. 15, the group's chief said on Saturday. The Indonesian government and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) struck a deal under Finnish mediation in August 2005 aimed at ending a conflict that has killed more than 15,000 people since the separatist group launched an insurgency in 1976. The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) led by veteran Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith has overseen GAM surrendering their arms and the Indonesian military cutting back its presence on the northern tip of Sumatra island. "We have achieved our task. There would be a number of processes that will have to go on but where AMM is not going to be a key element," he said. On Monday, Aceh will hold its first direct elections for top executive posts in the province -- the governor and deputy as well as 19 mayors and regents -- which is seen as a key step in cementing the truce. AMM is not involved in election monitoring. On the future of peace in Aceh without external monitors, Feith said: "For a large, important, powerful nation like the Republic of Indonesia it is a bit of (an) oddity to have international presence on its territory." "Very soon people will get accustomed to the normal situation where the national police is in charge in maintaining a secure environment. I have no reason to doubt at this stage that that would in any way lead to a renewal of tension," he said. AMM first had more than 200 staff when the mission started soon after the truce but after three 3-month extensions it has only 35 monitors left in the province. The campaign ahead of Monday's elections, in which 2.6 million people are eligible to vote, has been peaceful. Polls and experts say none of the eight candidates running for governor are expected to garner 25 percent of the votes, the quota needed to win outright, and a run-off in March was highly likely. He said whatever the outcome most Acehnese would accept it. The Helsinki agreement came about after months of negotiations, partially spurred by the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that left around 170,000 Acehnese dead or missing.
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