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TNI pulls out more troops from Aceh

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Jakarta Post - October 19, 2005

Jakarta – The TNI pulled out another 2,163 soldiers from Aceh on Tuesday as the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) completed their second round of weapons decommissioning as part of the terms of the peace agreement that will end more than three decades of war.

Witnessed by dozens of locals, the troops embarked from the Krueng Geukeuh port in Lhokseumawe following a ceremony led by Aceh military commander Maj. Gen. Supiadin.

Peter Feith, who heads the Aceh Monitoring Mission, was also present during the ceremony. "Hopefully, this can really lead to an eternal peace here," said one marine, Lt. Col. I Ketut Suwarya.

The soldiers were among the first batch of some 6,000 troops slated to leave Aceh under the second phase of the pullout this month. The next rounds of the second phase pullout would be held on Oct. 20 and 24.

The military has already withdrawn some 6,500 soldiers under the agreement, which was signed by both sides in Finland's capital Helsinki in August.

The pullout was made following the completion of the second round of arms decommissioning by GAM, which had to be extended as the number of weapons given up by the group was less that the 210 required.

Earlier on Tuesday, the monitoring mission accepted another 48 weapons from GAM. "A total of 233 weapons were received, so we are well over the target," Juri Laas, AMM spokesman, told AFP. The group has so far surrendered 476 weapons – or more than half the 840 required under the peace deal – to the monitoring mission. All have been destroyed.

Under the peace agreement, the Indonesian Military must pull out more than half its 60,000 troops from the province by December, while GAM is required to surrender a total of 840 weapons.

GAM has dropped its demand for independence in return for a form of local self-government. The government promised to withdraw its non-local security forces, offer amnesties to rebels and allow the creation of political parties in the province.

The peace process was restarted after last year's tsunami, which killed over 130,000 people in Aceh alone.

The Indonesian Military has deployed at least 38,000 troops in an attempt to crush the GAM separatists since the government imposed martial law in the province in May 2003.

Foreign monitors were first deployed to Aceh under a cease-fire agreement in 2002. However, the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement was short-lived due to violations perpetrated by both parties. A few dozen unarmed monitors from Thailand and the Philippines were forced to pull out amid escalating violence. Martial law was declared five months later after the separatists refused to surrender their arms and recognize Jakarta's sovereignty over the province.

About 15,000 people have been killed in Aceh since GAM began its struggle for Acehnese independence in 1976.

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