Selawat Badar Dance to Welcome GAM Leaders
Thursday, 20 April, 2006 | 15:07 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Banda Aceh: Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leaders, who havw been living in Sweden and Malaysia, arrived at Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport, Aceh Besar, yesterday evening (19/4).

They included Prime Minister Mahmud, Foreign Affairs Minister Zaini Abdullah, Defense Minister Zakaria Saman and spokesperson Bakhtiar Abdullah.

Former GAM Commander Muzzakir Manaf also joined the group.

Before stepping onto Acehenese land, the group stayed at Polonia Airport, Medan, for a few hours.

Thousands of former soldiers and leaders of the movement had been waiting for a long time at the airport.

They included Teungku Kamaruzzaman, Teungku Hamni, Irwandi Yusuf, Sofyan Dawood, and Teungku Muhsan Mina.
Former Aceh Governor Azwar Abubakar also welcomed the group together with several Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam government officials.

They were welcomed by Ranup Lampuan and Selawat Badar dances at the airport.

When the GAM leaders got off the plane, around 30 people in black and white clothing guarded them.

However, there were no special guards from the local police.

The group went straight to the GAM office in Lamdingin, Banda Aceh.

Malik Mahmud said, “After 30 years since we left Aceh, now we can gather together again. A peaceful moment like this has been longed by the Acehnese. Everybody dreams that Aceh will be peaceful forever.”

At a press conference, he said that their coming back to Aceh was aimed at seeing the situation after the conflict and tsunami disaster.

Zaini Abdullah said that before heading to Indonesia, he asked had permission from Hasan Tiro, GAM State Representatives.

“Hasan Tiro was happy for us to be back. He shed tears when sending his regards to all Acehnese people,” he said

Adi Warsidi