Aceh Reintegration Body to Proceed
Thursday, 15 June, 2006 | 17:29 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The government has insisted that the Aceh Reintegration Body (BRA) will proceed although five ex-members of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and several other members have resigned.

“It's okay if (GAM) resigned. The agency will continue,” said Sofyan Djalil, the State Minister for Information and Communication, when contacted yesterday (14/6).

Five GAM ex-members resigned from BRA the on 11 June.

According to GAM spokeperson, Munawar Liza, the BRA mission was not in line with the Helsinki agreement.

Munawar has also said that the agency, which had 85 members, was made up of too many people.

The resignation of GAM representatives was followed by that of three civilians, namely Rufriadi, Taf Haikal and Nazir Adam, for similar reasons.

However, Sofyan has rejected Munawar’s statement, saying that BRA was established as a commitment from the memorandum of understanding between the government and GAM.

“The government has prepared some money for it. The management is handed to the Acehnese district government and GAM,” he said.

“But, if GAM resigns, well, the program will continue,” Sofyan added.

Raden Rachmadi and Sutarto