Banda Aceh – A new phase began in the troubled region's peace process as the first monitoring teams started work in this Indonesian province yesterday.
A total of 72 monitors were being deployed to investigate any breaches of a ceasefire agreed to earlier this month. They are divided into 12 teams of six monitors each.
Each of these teams consists of two representatives from the government security forces, two from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and two international military observers from either Thailand or the Philippines.
"The deployment of these monitoring teams will be one of the most significant steps in helping bring a complete end to hostilities," Mr David Gorman of the Geneva-based non-governmental organisation, Henry Dunant Centre (HDC), which mediated the ceasefire, told the BBC.
The 12 teams have been deployed by the Joint Security Committee (JSC), a 15-member panel set up following the signing of the ceasefire agreement, which has the power to impose sanctions on violators of the agreement. Eventually about 24 teams are expected to be deployed.
The "cessation of hostilities" agreement was signed between the separatist rebels and the government in Geneva on December 9, but at least 10 people have been killed since then.
"The monitors will focus their investigation on major cases such as the incident in South Aceh on December 22," Mr Gorman said. On December 22, GAM rebels ambushed a truckload of troops who were bringing help to flood victims in South Aceh province, killing two soldiers and injuring four.
Thailand's Major-General Thanungsak Tuvinan, a senior envoy with the JSC, said the committee was expected to come up with mechanisms to deal with ceasefire violations next week.
They will include forms of sanctions. "We will also decide on details of demilitarised zones," he said.
GAM has been fighting for an independent state in the natural resource-rich province since 1976, during which more than 10,000 people have been killed. A decade-long military operation to squash the separatists failed and the government abandoned the strategy in late 1999.
In mid-2000, Indonesia quietly opened talks with GAM under the auspices of the HDC, but the resulting ceasefires failed. Then in December, the government and GAM signed the agreement, which aims to provide a basis for building lasting peace in the province.
Under this agreement, rebels must disarm in designated areas, free elections in 2004 to establish an autonomous government have been promised, and the new provincial government will be allowed to keep 70 per cent of the fuel revenues. The deal allows both sides two months to observe each others' compliance to end hostilities.
GAM's senior envoy to the JSC, Mr Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, said rebels and government security forces have agreed to notify the JSC about any plans for personnel movement so that the committee could relay the information to the other side to avoid clashes.
"The military also agreed not to set up new posts in villages," he said. Said Mr Gorman, according to the BBC: "We feel that right now with the enthusiasm of the two parties that we're on to something – we feel we can look forward to a positive peace process in the next couple of months."