Aceh separatists gathered up their weapons and Indonesian police packed their bags yesterday on the eve of a rebel disarmament process and government troop withdrawal designed to end 29 years of war in the province.
Under a long-elusive peace deal between Jakarta and rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), observers from the EU and Association of ASEAN will monitor Thursday the first phase of GAM's disarmament and the pullout of government forces.
The mission is the EU's first peace-monitoring venture in Asia.
Signed in Helsinki last month, the peace pact was spurred by the death of around 131,000 Acehnese in last December's tsunami disaster. Another 15,000 people have died since GAM took up arms in pursuit of a separate state on the westernmost tip of Sumatra island in 1976.
"We are ready for tomorrow," said GAM's Amni bin Ahmad Marzuki.
Amni, one of the rebels' most senior members, was released from prison late last month as part of an amnesty under the Helsinki accord. He and three others had been held on treason charges since 2003 when an earlier peace effort, which they were helping to negotiate, collapsed.
"There have been no problems... and we have been able to gather the weapons," Amni said.
However, in a sign of the challenges ahead, Pieter Feith, head of the foreign monitoring mission, accused GAM of a "serious violation" in connection with the wounding of two soldiers last Saturday.
Amni said GAM would try to prevent a recurrence of such an incident and it would not affect today's weapon surrender.
A day ahead of the formal troop withdrawal, 1,300 paramilitary police known as Brimob boarded two navy ships in Lhokseumawe to take them back to their home bases across the country.
National Police Chief Sutanto, at their farewell ceremony, said his troopers had spent between six and eight months in Aceh and were leaving one day earlier than required "to show our goodwill."
Sutanto said another 700 police troopers left the province on Aug. 14, the day before the Helsinki agreement was signed.
"Four thousand more police will be gradually pulled out in line with the surrender of weapons by the GAM," the chief said.
He told the outgoing troopers that the Helsinki agreement "is a victory for us all and also a victory for peace in Aceh."
Amni from GAM welcomed the early pullout and said "the commitment for implenting the [peace pact] should remain strong for all."
Under the Helsinki agreement a total of 840 rebel firearms are to be handed over in four stages by the end of the year, beginning today.
The military and police will, in return, proportionately reduce to zero those troops which were sent to Aceh from elsewhere in the country. They will leave behind 14,700 soldiers from Aceh-based units and 9,100 Aceh-based police.
The Aceh Monitoring Mission, whose strength will reach 230, is tasked with monitoring the demobilization of 3,000 GAM guerrillas, the surrender of their firearms and the pullout of non-local military and police units.
Headed by Feith, a Dutch diplomat who served as a NATO mediator in the Balkans, the AMM will also investigate and rule on alleged violations of the agreement.
The decommissioning, weapon surrender and troop withdrawal are scheduled to be completed by Dec. 31.
Along with its European members, the AMM includes unarmed military representatives from the ASEAN nations of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
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