PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
Tel +44 (0)20 8771 2904 Fax +44 (0)20 8653 0322
Email tapol@gn.apc.org Website http://www.tapol.org

< PRESS RELEASES

Accord on Aceh reached in Geneva: TAPOL calls for withdrawal of troops and dismissal of defence minister

11 January 2000

TAPOL has today welcomed the agreement reached in Geneva yesterday between the Indonesian Government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) as a step towards ending the violence in the province. The parties have agreed to a one-month moratorium on violence from the end of the current Humanitarian Pause on 15 January. They have also agreed to work to revise the security arrangements of the Humanitarian Pause to make them more effective.

However, if the Indonesian Government is serious about bringing peace to the province, this initiative must be followed by substantive political dialogue, the immediate withdrawal of troops and the ending of impunity for human rights violators, says TAPOL.

Yesterday’s agreement was made against the background of the announcement of a huge influx of 30,000 troops into the territory, including Kopassus special forces, and belligerent statements by Indonesian army commanders in Aceh warning of a military campaign to wipe out GAM. Furthermore, while the talks in Geneva were in progress, the Indonesian Minister of Defence, Mahfud M.D. publicly declared that the Pause would not be continued, undermining President Abdurrahman Wahid’s conciliatory approach calling for a dialogue.

TAPOL deplores this confrontational approach and calls for the immediate withdrawal of all non-organic troops from Aceh as an initial step towards ending the military presence in the province. It also calls on President Wahid to dismiss the Defence Minister for his blatant efforts to sabotage attempts to solve the Aceh problem by means of dialogue.

The two parties agreed a detailed agenda for future talks relating to democratic consultations, humanitarian law, human rights and socio-economic development. TAPOL believes that it is essential for these talks to lead to substantive progress in ending human rights violations, bringing the perpetrators of past violations to justice, ending impunity, and ensuring the safety of humanitarian workers, human rights defenders and political activists.

The intended aim of the Humanitarian Pause, made between the Indonesian Government and GAM in May 2000, was to make it possible for humanitarian and human rights organisations to protect the civilian population and provide assistance and support for the many families and communities which have suffered grievously from the 12-year long conflict in the province.

However, there has been no respite from the violence. According to the Aceh Human Rights Care Forum, the number of people killed in Aceh more than doubled from 393 in 1999 to 841 for the period 1 January to 7 December 2000. Over 500 people have been killed since the Humanitarian Pause came into operation in June.

ENDS

Press archive

top