End To 'The Forgotten War'

The Indonesian government and rebels from Aceh province Monday signed a landmark accord to end the 26-year separatist war on the tip of Sumatra island. But the two sides left the issue of disarming the province to further negotiation.

The accord, signed in Geneva, Switzerland, grants Aceh wide-ranging autonomy but not does not allow for independence. The war has claimed 12,000 lives in the past decade.

"Both sides have thus agreed that, from now on, enmity between them should be considered a thing of the past," said the six-page accord.

U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni said, "Both parties represented here really want this agreement to work. This is a good starting point. But it is just the beginning, not the end."

The war, which has roots going back more than 130 years, is considered one of the world's oldest armed conflicts.

"Given the firm commitment of both sides for peace, I see no reason why we cannot obtain this goal we so desire," said Wiryono Sastro Handoyo, the top Indonesian government negotiator, after signing the accord. "There is no obstacle we can't overcome."

Zaini Abdullah, who signed for the leadership of the Free Aceh Movement, said: "The achievement today is the direct result of the struggle and sacrifices of our people."

A group of international figures, who have been helping the Henry Dunant Center negotiate the accord, also was present for the ceremony in the center's villa on the banks of Lake Geneva. They included Zinni, a retired U.S. Marine general.

The insurgency has been dubbed "The Forgotten War" because it never attracted international public attention in the same way that other conflicts, such as East Timor, did.

But Aceh is seen as the most dangerous of Indonesia's many internal conflicts because of the rebels' insistence on independence and the government's resolve not to allow the province to break away — a move that many believe would lead to the disintegration of the ethnically and religiously diverse nation of 210 million people, which covers more than 13,000 islands spread out over 3,000 miles.

If the solution envisaged by the peace agreement — which also provides for autonomy and control over revenues from the province's timber and natural gas resources — proves successful, it could also be implemented in other secessionist trouble spots in Indonesia.

The peace accord sidestepped the sensitive issue of disarmament and demilitarization of Aceh, a Holland-sized province of 4.1 million people on the northern tip of Sumatra island. Instead, a joint security committee consisting of all parties to the peace agreement was tasked with "designing and implementing a mutually agreed upon process of demilitarization."

Andy Andrea, a spokesman for the Henry Dunant Center, said the idea was to have the rebels store their weapons in designated areas, which would be checked regularly by the team of 150 independent monitors, including military officers from the Philippines and Thailand.

In Aceh, Isnander Al-Faseh, a rebel spokesman, said the rebels would withdraw their forces to base-camps and cease all attacks against government troops. But he accused the security forces of bringing in reinforcements for a possible operation in the north of the province.

"This may be the work of hardline elements within the Indonesian military who do want this peace deal to succeed," Al-Faseh said.

Insurgents have been fighting for independence since 1870, when Dutch colonialists occupied the sultanate on the northern tip of Sumatra island. They assisted Indonesia's successful 1945-49 war against the Dutch, but launched a decade-long uprising in the early 1950s — this time against Jakarta's rule. The current rebellion began in 1976.

Both sides have been under intense international pressure to make concessions. The government has offered the timber- and oil-rich province sweeping autonomy, including the holding of regional elections in 2004 which the rebel Free Aceh Movement is likely to win. Although the separatists have not dropped their core insistence on independence, they have accepted to participate in the political process.

Western officials said the rebels were worried that by giving up their weapons they would loose their main bargaining chip. They have complained that the figure of 150 monitors — consisting partially of military officers from the Philippines and Thailand — is insufficient and have urged the United Nations to dispatch a much larger peacekeeping team.

Indonesia is also trying to stem a separatist movement in Irian Jaya, otherwise known as West Papua. There is also ethnic and religious conflict in Central and West Kalimantan, Maluku, North Maluku, and Central and South Sulawesi and West Timor.

Zinni was President Bush's special envoy to the Middle East earlier this year.