- Title: FINLAND: FIRST ROUND OF TALKS BETWEEN ACEH REBELS AND INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT
- Date: 28th January 2005
- Summary: (BN17) HELSINKI, FINLAND (JANUARY 28, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV EXTERIORS HOTEL WHERE REBEL DELEGATION IS STAYING 0.04 2. MCU (English) GAM (FREE ACEH MOVEMENT) PRIME MINISTER MALIK MAHMUD SAYING: "Talks are going well but unfortunately we cannot comment on the content. But we are very happy."/GAM DELEGATION GOING TO THE LIFT 0.34 3. MCU/SLV OF GAM DELEGATION IN THE LIFT/DOOR CLOSING (2 SHOTS) 0.40 4. LAS FLAG AT INDONESIAN EMBASSY IN HELSINKI 0.44 5. SLV/SV INDONESIAN DELEGATION RETURNING FROM TALKS (3 SHOTS) 1.12 6. CU FLAG AT EMBASSY 1.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 12th February 2005 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HELSINKI, FINLAND
- Country: Finland
- Reuters ID: LVA2A238Z6LVW52MSW7RHV6LXP9X
- Story Text: First round of talks between Aceh rebels and
Indonesian government greeted with cautious optimism by
Free Aceh Movement leader.
Indonesian officials and separatist rebels from the
Free Aceh Movement (GAM) met for the first time face to
face in nearly two years on Friday to try to forge a deal
to end 30 years of war.
Exiled leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and
senior Indonesian negotiators began by discussing the
humanitarian crisis in Aceh, where 230,000 people died or
disappeared in the Dec. 26 tsunami and more than 400,000
were left homeless.
The first face-to-face talks between GAM and Indonesian
government ministers, taking place out of earshot of the
media in a manor house near Helsinki, would continue on
humanitarian issues on Friday and early Saturday before
tackling "other issues", according to talks mediators from
the Crisis Management Initiative led by former Finnish
president Martti Ahtisaari.
It is unclear what will be on the table when the talk
turns to GAM's demands for independence for the gas-rich
province at the northern tip of the Indonesian island of
Sumatra, where about 12,000 people have died in fighting
since 1976.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None