Banda Aceh -The Aceh Reintegration Agency (BRA) has urged to the government to speed up its slow compensation of former members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), and conflict victims, which it said had contributed to an increase of crime and public unrest over the past few months.
BRA Joint Forum member Wiratmadinata said he was deeply concerned with the recent shootings and armed clashes involving security personnel and gunmen, and that the incidents were due in part to the slow progress of the reintegration scheme.
"Acehnese people should not consider the use of violence as a political solution," he said.
"All these cases must be settled to avoid a major and widespread conflict," he told The Jakarta Post here on Friday.
He said those involved were combatants using violence for economic purposes.
Almost three years after Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement signed the Helsinki peace agreement, the planned reintegration of former rebels and conflict victims has yet to be fully accomplished. Under the scheme, former rebels and conflict victims would receive land and aid money to help them establish themselves.
BRA has had difficulties identifying former combatants and conflict victims, and the government has yet to allocate special funds in the state budget to compensate them. This has caused frustration among those seeking compensation, Wiratmadinata said.
The administration has so far identified some 3,000 ex-combatants and conflict victims eligible, and has compensated them according to the peace agreement.
Wiratmadinata said BRA had difficulty implementing certain areas under the agreement, which stipulated the creation of job opportunities and the improvement of social welfare.
The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Aceh says the reintegration scheme was not designed well and had led to violence and an increase in the crime rate in the province.
"Under the supervision of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM), conflicting rivals -- rebels and security personnel -- could reach a mutual agreement to stop violence, but now that the mission has left, efforts to maintain peace have gone in separate directions.
"For instance, the police have never asked local military or the Aceh Transition Office to join in their operation to crack down on the ownership of illegal weapons," a commission spokesperson said.
Kontras Aceh recorded some 51 incidents involving gun battles in 2007 involving military and police personnel, ex-combatants and unidentified individuals.
The increase of crime and armed confrontations has made Aceh residents uneasy, and the road connecting the Banda Aceh with Medan, capital of North Sumatra, has seen an increase in armed robbery and extortion.
One resident of Lhokseumawe, Yusuf Usman, said he was confused by the large number of people in possession of weapons, despite the peace agreement.
"More and more people will be killed and the political condition in Aceh will deteriorate unless the possession of weapons is tightly regulated and monitored, and the peace agreement is implemented in the field," he said, adding that a certain side was not serious about making peace or ending the bloody conflict.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com (22 Januari 2008)
