Negotiators of the Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) are scheduled to sit down in Helsinki later this week, to resume the talks over peace in Aceh, amidst the global united rescue and assistance efforts for the tsunami-hit province of Indonesia.

According to press reports here Wednesday, Coordinating Minister for Political, legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto will lead the Indonesian government delegation to seek thechance for peace in the restive Aceh. The delegation will also include Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda, Minister of Justice and Human Rights as well as other senior officials and theIndonesian Military Force (TNI) officers, the most powerful delegation ever as compared with the previous negotiations.

The official sources stated that under the precondition of the unitary state of Indonesia, the government is posed to push forward the peaceful process, which includes to announce a generalamnesty to the GAM rebels and implementation of the special autonomy in the westernmost and oil-rich province of Aceh.

However, the GAM has reportedly claimed that it wanted the negotiation in Helsinki to focus only on reaching a cease-fire in the trouble-ridden province, so as to help humanitarian relief operation in Aceh, where over 170,000 people killed in the Dec. 26disaster.

Only over one week after taking office last October, IndonesianPresident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono paid a brief visit to Aceh in an attempt to find a new solution for the rebelious region, which has been haunting for the country since 1976.

Susilo, the former coordinating minister for politics and security under the Megawati government and a retired general told the Acehnese that special autonomy was the best and only way to resolve the Aceh conflict. The stance of the central government inJakarta displayed that there would be no big policy changes in dealing with the separatist movement.

Apart from insisting on the implementation of the special autonomy for the Musilm-dominated province, the Indonesian leader also pledged to help push forward economic development programs inthe region.

Many local people had hoped that the new president, who has promised to settle the Aceh issue fairly and honestly, would offerfresh solutions to the lingering rebellion, which prompted the central government of Megawati Soekarnoputri to put the westernmost province under martial law on May 19, 2003. The martial law status accompanied with the military operation to rootout the separatist rebels lasted for one year before shifting to astate of civil emergency from May 19, 2004.

It was believed that prior to the martial law imposition, the GAM had some 5,000 members and controlled many parts of the province. In the wake of the one-year military operation and over six-month civil emergency from May 19 last year, there have been still between 2,500 and 3,000 rebels continuing their fight in Aceh.

Actually, the special autonomy status was introduced on Jan. 1,2001. Under the arrangement, Aceh is basically free to run its ownaffairs except in the fields of defense, fiscal, foreign and religious affairs.

However, the GAM separatists have rejected the arrangement, saying that they want full independence, not just special autonomy.

By deploying the powerful military forces in Aceh on one hand, Jakarta also has been seeking for re-opening dialogue with the GAMrebels under the condition of the GAM gives up its goal for an independent state and surrender their arms to the TNI. But the demand for giving up its desire for independence has been rejectedby the separatists. The current situation indicates that reopeningof the negotiation between the Jakarta and the GAM to settle the thorny issue seems still dim, due to the large gap between the twosides..

Previous negotiations between the government and the GAM rebelswere mediated by the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center, which created a short-lived peace agreement in 2002, but this time wouldbe facilitated by the Finland-based Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), a mediation group led by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari.

Source: Xinhua