Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – A peace negotiator from the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Wednesday welcomed US willingness to help Indonesia resolve a long-running conflict with the separatist group. An Indonesian government official said it wasn't clear what the United States had in mind.
US ambassador to Indonesia Ralph Boyce said on Tuesday in Aceh's provincial capital Banda Aceh that Washington was willing to facilitate efforts to resolve the conflict if desired. But he also said Aceh was Indonesia's domestic business and the United States acknowledged the Southeast Asian giant's territorial integrity.
GAM negotiator Teungku Ibrahim Tiba told Reuters by telephone from Aceh: "Anyone who has the interest to become a facilitator will be accepted and the US was serious in responding to that proposition."
In Jakarta, an Indonesian foreign ministry official said it was not clear what the United States was proposing. "We don't know whether it's really an offer or not. So, we will study his comments first. But we think Aceh is an internal problem between Indonesians," he told Reuters. "We do not know what kind of facilitation they meant. Over the talks itself, we will see how GAM react to it," he also said.
Aceh is just one of several flashpoints in Indonesia, plagued in recent years by violence sparked by issues ranging from separatism to communal and religious differences.
Jakarta and GAM officials held their latest round of peace talks in Switzerland mediated by the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue earlier this month. But the talks, which began two years ago, have failed to halt the violence between Indonesian troops and armed rebels in which thousands of residents have been killed and thousands more forced to flee their homes in the past quarter of century.
Asked about countries saying they consider the Aceh conflict Indonesia's internal problem, Tiba said: "That's Indonesian propaganda."
A unit of US oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp is located in the GAM stronghold of North Aceh and has been affected repeatedly by the violence in the area. It closed four key gas fields last year for four months after fighting intensified.