Aceh: A New Chance for Peace

Jakarta/Brussels  |   15 Aug 2005

The 15 August agreement in Aceh offers the best hope yet of ending a conflict that has cost over 9,000 lives since 1976 but deep distrust remains, and a number of measures need to be taken quickly if the peace is to last.

Aceh: A New Chance for Peace,* the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, explores the background to the agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the obstacles still to be overcome. Although the mood in Jakarta is upbeat, in Aceh itself it is more restrained, with the memory of the failed 2002 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement still fresh.

Among the most urgent tasks are:

• finding appropriate channels for the widest possible dissemination of information about the agreement in Indonesian and Acehnese;
• coordinating the different agencies working on amnesty, disarmament, reintegration, monitoring and funding;
• ensuring that government promises of land, jobs, or social security to various groups are quickly kept; and
• protecting vulnerable groups, including those who report violations.

"No one should underestimate the difficulties of settling this conflict", says Sidney Jones, Director of Crisis Group's South East Asia Project. "There are details to be worked out on everything from amnesties to compensation to political participation, each fraught with potential controversy".

However, the political context is more promising than in 2002. Both sides appear genuinely committed to making the agreement work. GAM has been seriously weakened since May 2003 by military operations under the state of emergency. The December 2004 tsunami spurred efforts to revive the peace process, bringing Aceh into the international spotlight, making it politically desirable for both sides to work toward a settlement and offering ways of linking reconstruction to the peace process and ensuring donor funding.

"Achieving peace will not be easy", says Jones, "but 'can do' excitement is in the air. The impossible may just be achievable if people avoid blind optimism and set to work to tackle the obstacles".