Indonesia's Aceh Cease-Fire Accord ExtendedThe Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have reached an agreement to extend their three-month cease-fire accord which expired Saturday (Sep. 2), an official statement said.The statement, issued by a body called "Joint Forum for the Humanitarian Pause" Saturday evening, said the two sides "reconfirmed their support for the Humanitarian Pause in Aceh and have agreed in principle to extend it to the second phase." The three-paragraph statement did not say for how long the accord was to be extended. But, "the requirements from both sides for Phase II will be discussed in detail at a Joint Forum meeting scheduled for mid-September in Switzerland," Antara News Agency reported on Sunday. Earlier on Saturday, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that President Abdurrahman Wahid had approved the temporary extension of the cease-fire or called Humanitarian Pause. Signed in Davos, Switzerland last May 12, the original agreement took effect more than a fortnight later on June 2 for three months. Under the agreement, the Indonesian government and the GAM agreed to reduce tension and stop violence in the province. Rebels in Aceh have been fighting for 25 years for independence, a greater share of oil profits, and the right to impose Islamic religious laws. Thousands have been killed in decades of fighting between Indonesian security forces and Aceh rebels. |
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