From far west to far east

Indonesia

Aug 18th 2005 BANDA ACEH
From The Economist print edition

A peace agreement in Aceh may serve as a template for Papua

DEFYING the fears of only a few months ago, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) signed a formal peace deal with the Indonesian government on August 15th, promising to end its 29-year battle for a separate homeland on the northern tip of Sumatra. Both sides have made significant, and unpalatable, concessions. GAM has renounced its claim to outright independence, while the government is giving the rebels a blanket amnesty and is letting people in Aceh province form their own local political parties: something hitherto banned by law in Indonesia, for fear it would encourage the country's fragmentation.

Economic and human-rights provisions have been written into the agreement to ensure that GAM fighters can not only reintegrate into society but can live comfortably and free from fear. That, at any rate, is the theory. Mutual suspicions are so deep-rooted that there is much doubt over whether the disarmament process—whereby GAM is to surrender its weapons and the government in Jakarta is to remove its non-Acehnese military units from the province—will run its planned four-phase course over the next four months. Most people fear that, while regular forces may behave, the numerous proxies both sides have used in the past will be employed to sabotage the deal.

However, signs are that most Acehnese are already reaping the benefits of last month's announcement that an outline deal had been struck. Both sides' troops are, for the most part, remaining in their posts rather than patrolling, so there has been a dramatic decline in violence. Villagers are thus enjoying much greater freedom of movement than at any time since the last, much less structured, attempt at peace collapsed in 2003. Some 250 monitors from the European Union and five South-East Asian nations will help ensure this continues.

While remaining firmly committed to the deal, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has already moved on to the nation's other separatism-racked region, Papua, at the other extremity of the archipelago. In a speech on August 16th to mark Indonesia's independence day, he said he hoped to quell the unrest in the easternmost region, a result of the government's questionable attempts at integration and ham-fisted development efforts, through dialogue and a “persuasive approach”.

Mr Yudhoyono's task will, arguably, be even harder than in Aceh. In contrast to the position of the western province, not all nations recognise Indonesia's sovereignty over Papua (until recently called Irian Jaya), which was confirmed in a stage-managed vote in 1969 by 1,025 hand-picked leaders, rather than in a promised referendum. For the past few years Indonesia's Papua policy has been characterised by big military operations and broken assurances on wide-ranging autonomy. Then again, a few months ago, not many people gave the Aceh peace initiative much chance of success.

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