FINLAND: INDONESIAN DELEGATION ARRIVE IN HELSINKI FOR THIRD ROUND OF TALKS ON ACEH

Record ID: 648813

  • Title: FINLAND: INDONESIAN DELEGATION ARRIVE IN HELSINKI FOR THIRD ROUND OF TALKS ON ACEH
  • Date: 11th April 2005
  • Summary: (W2) HELSINKI, FINLAND (APRIL 11, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. INDONESIAN DELEGATION WALKING OUT OF ELEVATOR AT AIRPORT 0.09 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MINISTER OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SOFYAN DJALIL SAYING: "We come here with very good intentions to discuss a quantity of possible solutions for the problems in Aceh." 0.16 3. DJALIL WALKING TO CAR 0.21 4. SCU: DJALIL SITTING IN CAR 0.26 5. PAN: CARS LEAVING 0.36 6. EXTERIOR OF INDONESIA EMBASSY 0.40 7. DJALIL AND DEPUTY MINISTER FARID HUSAIN SITTING TALKING 0.46 8. WIDE OF LIVING ROOM WITH INDONESIA DELEGATES SITTING TALKING 0.51 9. INDONESIAN AMBASSADOR IRIS INDRA MURTI SITTING TALKING 0.56 10. PULL OUT: DJALIL AND HUSAIN TALKING 1.05 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th April 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HELSINKI, FINLAND
  • Country: Finland
  • Reuters ID: LVA2I2KJ9L3YGVJVSZ8UEPHWX9E
  • Story Text: Indonesian delegation arrives in Finland for talks
    on Aceh.


    Members of the Indonesian government and
    representatives of the Free Aceh Movement are to convene in
    the third round of talks facilitated by Finnish President
    Martti Ahtisaari and the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI)
    on April 12 in Knigstedt Mansion in Vantaa outside
    Helsinki.

    On Monday (April 11) morning the Indonesian delegation
    arrived at the airport in Helsinki, where the Minister of
    Communication said that they came with good intentions and
    hoped to find solutions in the troubled Aceh region. The
    delegation headed for the Indonesian Embassy in Helsinki
    for talks with the ambassador, Iris Indra Murti.

    The talks could be complicated, as The Free Aceh
    Movement (GAM) at the weekend accused the independent
    Finland-based facilitator for the talks of taking Jakarta's
    line on the issue of special autonomy.

    The statement from the GAM military command in Aceh said
    the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) had left the rebels
    "shocked and dismayed" by references on its Web site
    (www.cmi.fi).

    Special autonomy is the phrase Jakarta uses to describe
    proposals it says would grant Aceh a large degree of
    freedom but retain Indonesian sovereignty.

    "GAM has never agreed that the conflict will or should
    be resolved within the framework of special autonomy," the
    military command said in its statement received by Reuters
    on Sunday.

    "We want to continue these negotiations, but will not
    do so if they are merely a means of forcing us to swallow
    an unpalatable meal of fake autonomy and continued military
    occupation," it added.

    The statement asked that as an indication of goodwill
    "negotiators held in the jails of Java be released", but
    does not say what will happen if they are not. Government
    officials could not immediately be reached for comment on
    the demand.

    CMI declined to comment on the statement.

    GAM has been fighting a simmering rebellion against the
    Indonesian government for nearly 30 years, with at least
    12,000 estimated to have died in the fighting, many of them
    civilians. Both sides accuse the other of gross human
    rights violations.

    GAM negotiators living in exile in Sweden who will
    attend the Helsinki talks have, however, expressed optimism
    about them.


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