Jerry Norton, Teupin Raya – Aceh rebels have more than met their initial commitment to hand in their weapons under an agreement aimed at ending nearly 30 years of conflict, international monitors said on Saturday.
Monitoring team spokeswoman Faye Belnis said Free Aceh Movement (GAM) fighters had handed in 279 weapons in three days, the first stage in a peace deal calling for rebels to disarm and the withdrawal of government forces from the province.
Three more such rounds of weapon handovers and military and police withdrawals are scheduled between now and the end of December, a key part of the agreement to settle the conflict that has taken some 15,000 lives, mostly civilian.
Belnis said monitors had accepted 243 weapons of the 279 pieces handed over by the rebels, while the Indonesian government had accepted 226 pieces, leaving 17 in dispute. By either count, GAM has exceeded the 210 target needed to trigger a withdrawal of thousands of Indonesian soldiers from Aceh province, on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
The final weapons handover of the first round took place on a grassy athletic field surrounded by towering palm trees in Teupin Raya village, about 135 km (83 miles) by road southeast of provincial capital Banda Aceh.
Festive mood
A festive mood prevailed among the crowd of GAM members, security forces and ordinary Acehnese as semi-automatic rifles, pistols and other weapons were cut into pieces by the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), while vendors sold ice-cream, other snacks and drinks.
"(The peace agreement) is good for both sides. This is the only way to stop the conflict and I feel optimistic about it," said a long-haired GAM member in a black baseball cap, who declined to give his name.
Asked why he thought this deal would succeed when previous efforts at peace have failed, the 28-year-old former farmer told Reuters: "Because this time the European Union, AMM is taking care of this and I think they'll really end the conflict." The EU leads the AMM, whose 200-plus members come from European and Southeast Asian countries.
Peace will make it easier for aid agencies to carry out a massive $5 billion reconstruction program in Aceh, where last December's Indian Ocean tsunami left 170,000 people dead or missing and 500,000 homeless.
A successful agreement should also attract fresh investment to the resource-rich province of four million people.
"I think the deal is good because it will make a big change," said fisherman Ridwan, 29, as he watched the weapons destruction under a broiling tropical sun.
"I feel very happy because this is peace from both sides and I hope this state of peace will last forever," said 18-year-old high school student Safia, wearing a Muslim head scarf and ankle-length white-and-gray school uniform.
Aceh is the most staunchly Islamic province in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.
The peace agreement's provisions include amnesty for GAM fighters, a bigger piece of revenue for the province from sales of its resources like natural gas, extensive rights of self-government, and the establishment of locally based political parties.