Geneva – The Indonesian government and Aceh separatist rebels yesterday signed a ground-breaking three-month ceasefire agreement at a secret location in Geneva aimed at ending more than two decades of violence in the province.
A government statement said the ceasefire, signed under a strict news blackout, would come into effect on June 2 and would be reviewed regularly.
"This joint understanding is an early step of a hundred-step journey in the efforts to find a final solution to the Aceh problem," said Indonesia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Mr Hassan Wirajuda, who signed the deal with Mr Zaini Abdullah, Health Minister of the Free Aceh Movement.
The signing followed three rounds of talks between the two sides facilitated by the Geneva-based Henri Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
The Indonesian statement said both sides had expressed hope that the agreement "will not only help decrease the human suffering and violence in Aceh, but will also help boost the confidence towards finding a peaceful solution to the conflict there".
The deal came despite repeated assertions by Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid that the government would not bow to rebel demands for independence.
Instead, Mr Abdurrahman is promising provinces more autonomy and a greater share of their own wealth in an effort to reduce anti-Jakarta sentiments elsewhere in the archipelago. Facing intense domestic pressure and a public fearful that the agreement could lead to Indonesia's break-up, Jakarta played down the significance of the deal.
"This deal is called a humanitarian pause. So there is no business about giving recognition to anyone by anyone," the President told reporters in Jakarta.
And in a sign of the delicate balancing act he faces, Mr Abdurrahman decided against sending Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab to witness the signing as planned because of "concerns from inside the country".
The Indonesian statement said both sides would set up two joint committees to oversee the ceasefire. One committee would coordinate humanitarian aid deliveries while the other would seek to ensure the reduction of tension and the cessation of violence.
The committee on security "will prepare ground rules for the conduct of activities pertaining to the humanitarian pause, guarantee the absence of offensive military actions and ensure the continuing of normal police function for the enforcement of law and the maintenance of public order", the statement said.
The committees will be based in Banda Aceh but a "joint forum" comprising representatives of both sides will be based in Switzerland and will be regarded as the highest decision-making body.
The ceasefire comes at a time when demands for an East Timor- style independence ballot are mounting in resource-rich Aceh.