Aceh. Hope is fragile but still alive

Date: 29/10/05

Amazingly, the post-tsunami peace agreement is holding

TWO months into a peace process that is seeking to end a 29-year insurgency is a presumptuous moment to start being euphoric. But unexpected optimism is the overwhelming emotion in Aceh, the tsunami-ravaged province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra where the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the government have already advanced much further down the path to sustainable peace than on any of their previous attempts.

This week both the Indonesian security forces and GAM met their latest deadlines, respectively to withdraw troops and hand over weapons. GAM has now given up more than half the 840 firearms it promised to surrender and the Jakarta government has pulled out more than 15,000 soldiers and paramilitary police, a similar proportion of its obligation.

Equally heartening is that there has been only a handful of violations of the agreement signed in Helsinki on August 15th, and neither side has tried to make political capital from them. Strong leadership from both sides, a new-found restraint within Indonesia's hitherto notoriously ill-disciplined army and firm monitoring from 227 observers sent by the European Union and Indonesia's neighbours have set a tone that should maintain momentum. The Acehnese are, for the most part, warmly welcoming home former fighters, while the security forces have all but ended their patrols.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono still faces challenges, most notably to enact promised legislation giving Aceh an exceptional degree of autonomy. His predecessors' failure to carry out such commitments fuelled the original rebellion; he now has 18 months to pass the law and is expected to prolong the drafting process for as long as possible.

Meanwhile, however, government apathy towards nearly autonomous Aceh is growing. President Yudhoyono recently berated the rest of the world for failing to honour its tsunami promises. Although accurate, this was hypocritical. His bureaucracy, particularly the finance ministry, is showing little sense of urgency or desire to rebuild the region that bore the brunt of the December 26th disaster. And the majority of district administrations in Aceh cut their public-services budgets in 2005. If Indonesia doesn't get this rebuilding right, there is still every chance that the peace could go wrong as well.

Council of the European Union: Policies: Security and defence: Aceh Monitoring Mission https://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cmsUpload/051130_background_info.pdf

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