An EU-led team has arrived in Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh to prepare for the monitoring of a likely peace deal between Jakarta and separatist rebels, officials said.
The 12-man European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations team arrived in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, Minister of Communication and Information, Sofyan Jalil said.
Their visit coincided with a fresh outbreak of violence in Aceh, where almost three decades of insurgency have claimed thousands of lives, as a village chief and his wife were gunned down in front of their children. Jalil said the government expected to strike a deal with rebels by August, following five rounds of talks in Helskinki under which the EU monitoring mission was agreed.
Two members of the Crisis Management Initiative, a non-governmental group headed by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari that has facilitated the Helskinki talks, were among the EU delegation.
Jalil said that the team would study the feasibility of observing any peace agreement reached between the government and Free Aceh Movement rebels. "The team wants to see how ready the infrastructure and telecommunication facilities are," Jalil said. "They want to see what, if a peace agreement takes place, will be needed."
Complicating their task was the massive damage caused to Aceh by the Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 128,000 people in the province before it led to a reopening of dialogue between the government and the rebels. Jalil was upbeat that the peace talks would produce an agreement that will lead to a peace pact by August, in line with expectations of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
"Allah permitting, we will reach a general agreement in the fifth meet and in August, by the timelime set by the president, hopefully we will be able to settle this matter," he said.
He said that both sides in the talks have already reached agreement on most issues, although Jakarta has refused to bow to demands of sovereignty. It has, however, offered an amnesty to rebels.
So far the talks have failed to stem the violence, which claimed its latest victims just hours before the team's arrival when gunmen shot the head of the south Aceh village of Simpang and his wife in front of their children.
South Aceh Military Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jamhur Ismail, said the gunmen, numbering five and wearing military fatigues and masks, were from the separatist Free Aceh Movement. Rebel officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Despite the ongoing talks to end the conflict, Indonesia's defence ministry has lodged a secret request for almost 55 million dollars to continue military operations against the rebels, a report said.
Kompas newspaper said the classified request for funds to support the "security-restoration operation" was signed by defence minister Juwono Sudarsono. Kompas said a copy of the letter was also sent to a parliamentary commission dealing with security, politics and foreign affairs two days after it was sent to the finance ministry.
Commission member Joko Susilo told the paper that legislators deemed the undercover request inappropriate since a state of civilian emergency, which would entitle the defence ministry to more funds, has been lifted in Aceh.
Both Susilo and defence ministry officials declined immediate comment on the report.
The government imposed martial law in Aceh in May 2003 and launched a massive anti-rebel military campaign to rid the resource-rich province of the guerrillas.
It downgraded the status to civilian emergency the following year and in May 2005 returned the province to normal administration as it mounted a major reconstruction programme to rebuild after the tsunami disaster.
The separatists launched their struggle for independence in Aceh in 1976. Almost 15,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed in the conflict.