Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Washington's Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni, now on a tour of Aceh, is pushing for peace talks to resolve the conflict between the Jakarta government and the rebels. But his efforts are likely to be hampered by Jakarta's plan for a new military operation to be announced soon, say observers.
General Zinni held talks with Aceh's police yesterday and visited the sensitive Pidie district, where troops said they had shot dead two rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) a day earlier.
Police chief Yusuf Manggabarani said the US envoy had been told that mediators should remain neutral. "We asked them to be neutral," he said, referring to the American envoy and two officials from the Swiss-based Henry Dunant Centre, which has been mediating between the rebels and the Indonesian government since 2000.
Recently, Aceh's military commander Djali Yusuf and government officials had criticised the two mediators for allegedly siding with the rebels. Analysts view such accusations as a sign that Jakarta has little faith in the peace talks and believes a tougher military operation could wipe out the rebel movement.
They also say President Megawati Sukarnoputri's tough speech at the People's Consultative Assembly last Friday where she said the government's policy was to restore peace "by crushing the armed separatist movement" has only added to speculation that the peace talks are a low priority.
Observers suspect Gen Zinni was invited by the Henry Dunant Centre to try and persuade the Indonesians not to abandon the peace talks as they "definitely need someone to give credibility to the peace process".
Religious leaders, as well as the Acehnese rebels, have also warned that an increased military operation would hurt the peace talks and increase opposition to Jakarta.
"If the government organises a military operation, then the confidence of the Acehnese community towards the government will disappear," said Mr Imam Sudja, the Aceh head of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim organisation Muhammadiyah.
"The victims will not be GAM but the people." Mr Imam is also a member of a team for monitoring violence, established as part of the peace negotiations. He said increased military operations would lead to more civilian victims because of poor military control over the troops.
"The government should speed up the solving the conflict by bringing the two sides to the negotiating table, not through a military solution," he said.
GAM negotiator Amni bin Ahmad Marzuki warned that launching another military operation would be "counter-productive" and destroy GAM's trust in the ongoing peace talks.