CRISIS PROFILE: Aceh peace is ray of light after tsunami
By Emma Batha
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Acehnese children play on a tree in a makeshift tsunami refugee camp.
Photo by DADANG TRI
Seven months after the Indian Ocean tsunami smashed into Aceh, the Indonesian government and separatist rebels signed a peace pact ending one of Asia’s longest running wars.
The enormity of the disaster, which left nearly 170,000 dead or missing in the northern Sumatran province, helped galvanise peace talks.
But the success of the weapons handover by rebels and the almost simultaneous withdrawal of thousands of troops in the latter half of 2005 has stunned even the optimists.
"We are surprised that we are finishing the conflict so fast,” Indonesia’s Vice President Jusuf Kalla said in late January. “(The rebels are) surprised with how our army pulled back, and the people are surprised with how peaceful it is there after 30 years."
The war began in 1976 when the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM), or the Free Aceh Movement, launched its campaign for independence. Fierce reaction from government troops forced GAM leaders to flee to Sweden.
GAM maintained that Jakarta was an occupying power in Aceh, and that the Acehnese people were culturally and linguistically different from other Indonesians.
Muslims in Aceh are more orthodox than in the rest of Indonesia. Aceh also has abundant resources like natural gas. GAM argued that Jakarta grabbed too much of the revenue.
State of emergency
Around 15, 000 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the war. Independent groups say both sides, but especially the military, violated human rights. Some government and rebel fighters also turned the conflict into cash via illegal tolls on roads, kidnapping, and demands for protection money.
The government, which launched a massive military offensive and imposed a state of emergency after the collapse of a short-lived truce in 2003, continued to carry out operations against the rebels in the weeks immediately after the tsunami.
But in late January 2005 the two sides met face to face in Helsinki for the first peace talks in nearly two years.
Both parties made important compromises leading to the signing of a peace pact on Aug. 15. GAM dropped its independence demand and the government agreed to let GAM members participate in politics.
"I think the tsunami somehow already changed minds ... that this tragedy is much bigger than war," Aceh political activist Ahmad Humam Hamid told Reuters at the time.
"We need our kids to go to school. We need our families to be safe. We need farmers to start living again as before."
The rebels disbanded their military wing at the end of December after handing in hundreds of weapons. Indonesia pulled out the last of its troop and police reinforcements shortly afterwards. GAM will be allowed to take part in local elections expected in May or June.
Reconstruction
The peace agreement smoothed the way for a multi-billion dollar internationally backed reconstruction programme in Aceh.
The tsunami, which left half a million people homeless, smashed up towns, villages, seaports, airports and kilometres of roads.
More than 600,000 people lost their livelihoods, half of them fishermen. Farmers and small traders were also very badly hit. Some 60,000 hectares of agricultural land were damaged.
Male survivors outnumber women by a ratio of 3:1 in some villages, and overall, far more women and children were killed, changing family and social structures.
The Indonesian agency overseeing recovery, the BRR, says between 80,000 and 110,000 new homes are needed. A report in December said 67,500 people were still living in tents, many of which were going mouldy. Others are in wooden barracks. The BRR aims to get everyone into permanent housing by 2007.
Even before the tsunami, the conflict had taken its toll on Aceh where much of the province’s infrastructure was dysfunctional.
Indonesia says it will need $5-$5.5 billion for long-term recovery. Some $6.5 billion has been pledged of which about $4.5 billion had been secured, including $2.5 billion from non-governmental organisations.
The World Food Programme will be feeding about 1.2 million tsunami survivors in Indonesia through 2007.
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