JAKARTA, 10 May 2003 - Indonesia will free four senior representatives of the Aceh rebel movement if their aim in trying to leave the province was to work for peace, Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda said on Saturday. "We still respect them as the negotiators for GAM. If their activities outside Aceh were related to finding a peaceful solution for Aceh, then fine," he told reporters, two days before the government-set deadline for the separatists to agree on peace talks or face a military offensive.
Police detained the four leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) at the Banda Aceh airport on Friday as they tried to leave the provincial capital, 1,700 km (1,060 miles) northwest of Jakarta. "They are still being questioned about their plan to leave town without permission. Up until now, there are no new developments from their investigation," police spokesman Sayed Hoesainy told Reuters.
Police say under an agreement with groups monitoring a peace deal reached in December, the GAM representatives were supposed to give prior notice if they planned to leave the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island. Separately, there were reports Thai and Filipino peacekeeping forces had been told to withdraw from Aceh, and of eleventh hour efforts to salvage the peace deal before the deadline passes.
The peace pact -- signed in December and aimed at stopping a decades-long conflict that has killed at least 10,000 people -- called for GAM to start laying down its arms and for the military to withdraw to defensive positions. But the deal has become increasingly troubled, and on Saturday 600 marines were departing Jakarta to join thousands already sent to reinforce government troops in Aceh.
Indonesia's military chief has said there would be no half way measures in any attack if GAM refused to lay down its arms. The government has threatened all-out military operations against GAM if they do not come to the negotiating table by May 12 and meet other demands. GAM has so far held firm in refusing.
In Thailand, the English-language Nation newspaper said on Saturday Thai and Filipino peacekeeping troops in Aceh would return home on Sunday, quoting the Armed Forces Supreme Command's General Suraphol Chinachit. Forty-six Thai soldiers were assigned to the operation.
But, in a signal not everyone had abandoned hope, representatives of the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Centre that brokered the peace agreement were scheduled to meet GAM officials in Stockholm on Saturday.
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