[Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh may see an escalation in conflict, if the government and separatist rebels fail to agree on conditions for peace talks. The rebel Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, is open to holding talks. But, Jakarta says there'll be no negotiations unless GAM accepts the autonomy package that was introduced late last year.]

Presenter/Interviewer: Kanaha Sabapathy

Speakers: Bakhtiar Abdullah, GAM spokesman based in Stockholm, Sweden; Professor Human Hamid from the Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh

Sabapathy: After agreeing to conduct all inclusive talks in May, Jakarta is changing the game plan for talks with the Acehnese rebels scheduled for the latter part of this year. Bakhtiar Abdullah, the spokesperson for the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM based in Sweden, says the may talks mapped out a few important matters.

Bakhtiar: In the agreement last May, we agreed to carry out the process of confidence building and at the same time to go step by step with the road map that had been concluded between the two parties. And after the agreement was signed, they agreed to carry out the next plan of cessation of hostilities and also all-inclusive dialogue to be carried out around this year.

Sabapathy: But all that is now in the balance. Jakarta now wants GAM to accept the NAD, or the Nangoro Aceh Darrusalam autonomy package, first before talks can resume. But GAM, which is prepared to use the autonomy package as a starting point in talks, is not willing to give up its aspirations for independence. At the end of last year Jakarta introduced the NAD to Aceh, under which the province could introduce Sharia laws and would have a greater cut of the income generated from its rich natural resources. But, according to Professor Human Hamid from the Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, these provisions should only be seen as a starting point for further negotiations.

Hamid: He arrived for the people to choose their own leader or leaders, either the governor or the mayor or the head of the district and the fair share of revenue from oil and gas and the authority to manage all other natural resources. Well they got some good measure in that bill but the government should convince the movement first.

Sabapathy: GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah agrees, saying that a referendum will clarify what exactly the Acehnese want.

Bakhtiar: The NAD law is not what the Acehenese want and this can be determined only through a democratic process. For example it can carry out some kind of reference or plebiscite and if this is what they want then freely without any intimidation by the regime, only then we will know whether that is favour of the NAD law.

Sabapathy: Meanwhile, Jakarta has been making some veiled threat. Chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says if the rebels do not accept the autonomy package the government would take stern measures, including an increase in the number of military personnel or the imposition of civil emergency. Professor Hamid says this is definitely not the way to resolve the problem.

Hamid: If a government is willing to apply a security approach in handling Aceh, I doubt if the government is going to succeed. Because if you look at the history of the movement since 1989, the more the government applied a hard approach the more you will see the system fail.

Sabapathy: The civil war which started in 1976 has claimed over 10,000 lives, mostly civilans caught in the middle. Although a peace accord was signed between the rebels and the government in May 2000, there has been little or no let up in the fighting. This year alone some 845 civilians have died. Only last month the government labelled GAM as a terrorist organisation although human rights group lay the death of innocent civilians on both sides. Mr Bakhtiar however says the terrorist activities are being conducted by the military not GAM.

Bakhtiar: This propaganda is nothing new for us because they have labelled us with so many other labels. But we have made our point clear to the international community and they are the witness today of what's going on in Aceh, because so far we have never carried out any terrorist actions against anybody except well of course in terms of war, soldiers are getting killed. But it's the other way round. It's they who are the terroristic regime, because every time they carry out a military operation, they always retaliate upon the foreigners and civilians. When they do it upon the civilians, these are against all norms of the international standard.

Sabapathy: So where to now for the peace process in Aceh? Despite the impasse, Mr Bakhtiar says GAM hopes the talks will take place.

Bakhtiar: We have to look into our different priorities to find a common denominator whereby we can agree and that's why the reason why we are still holding onto the May agreement and we hope to find there's some kind of solution in the field of secession of hostilities.