National

Total of 200 Foreigners to Monitor Aceh Peace Agreement
Sunday, 14 August, 2005 | 17:35 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Around 200 people are planned to be involved in monitoring the implementation of a peace agreement between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
They are all part of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM).

Marty Natalegawa, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said that this number is the monitoring team sent from various countries in the European Union (EU) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

“One hundred are in teams sent by European Union (EU) countries while 100 others are from ASEAN,” stated Natalegawa at the Foreign Ministry in Jakarta on Friday (12/08).

From ASEAN, four countries--Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore--have stated their willingness to send delegations to the AMM.

“Up to now, Brunei is yet to answer,” said Natalegawa.

Regarding the composition of the people and the structure of the AMM, he said that this matter was still being discussed by the countries involved.

According to Yuri Thamrin, another spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, when the memorandum of understanding between the government and GAM is signed on August 15, an advance team from the AMM consisting of 50 people will be already in Aceh for a month until September 15.

“Technical matters are still being discussed in the Status of Mission Agreement (SOMA),” stated Thamrin.

According to Natalegawa, the willingness of several countries to be involved in the AMM is the result of the government’s efforts to provide information on Aceh in a transparent manner to the world.

“Because of this purpose, ASEAN countries asked to be involved in monitoring the peace in Aceh,” he stated.
(Raden Rachmadi-Tempo News Room)