DATE=5/12/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=INDONESIA CEASEFIRE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262276
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Indonesian government and Aceh rebels
have signed a ceasefire agreement aimed at ending
25 years of fighting in the northwestern
Indonesian province of Aceh. Lisa Schlein
reports the agreement was signed at a secret
location in Geneva under a strict news blackout.
TEXT: A statement issued by the Indonesian
government says the ceasefire will come into
effect on June second. It says the first phase
of its implementation covers a three-month period
and will be regularly reviewed.
After the signing in Geneva, the representatives
of both parties expressed their hope that this
joint understanding will help decrease the human
suffering and violence in Aceh and will help find
a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Under terms of the agreement, two joint
committees will be set up. Each committee will
have a maximum of 10 members. A five-person
monitoring team will oversee their activities.
The committees will be based in the Acehnese
provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
A so-called joint forum comprising
representatives from both sides will be based in
Switzerland. This will be established as the
highest decision-making body.
One of the joint committees will be responsible
for humanitarian action and will coordinate
effective delivery of humanitarian relief
assistance to the people of Aceh.
The second committee will oversee security. Its
aim is to ensure the reduction of tension and an
end to more than two decades of violence. The
statement says it will guarantee the absence of
offensive military actions and ensure the
continuation of normal police functions.
The ceasefire agreement came after three rounds
of secret talks in Geneva. The negotiations and
signing ceremony were headed by Indonesia's
ambassador to the United Nations, Hassan Wirayuda
and an Aceh rebel representative based in Sweden,
Zaini Abdullah.
In the statement, the Indonesian ambassador calls
the agreement an early step of a hundred-step
journey in the efforts to find a final solution
of the Aceh problem.
/// OPT /// Aceh rebels back in Indonesia have
voiced their approval of the ceasefire agreement,
saying it will give both sides a chance to search
for a peaceful solution to their conflict. But
they say they will not drop their demand for
independence from Indonesia, a position rejected
by the Indonesian government.
The 25 year-old civil war has resulted in many
deaths, disappearances and gross cases of human
rights violations. Over the past decade, an
estimated five-thousand people have been killed,
including 345 this year. /// END OPT /// (Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/KL
12-May-2000 10:07 AM EDT (12-May-2000 1407 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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