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| Southeast Asia |
| Aceh Fighters Begin Handing Over Arms Under Peace Deal |
| 2005-09-16 |
| BANDA ACEH, Sept 15 (Bernama) -- Fighters of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Thursday began surrendering their weapons under the peace deal signed with the Indonesian government in Helsinki, Finland on Aug 15 which ended a bloody 29-year war that killed over 15,000 people. The historic event was held at the Blang Padang Airport, witnessed by Aceh Acting Governor Azwar Abubakar, Communications and Information Minister Sofyan Djalil and hundreds of local residents and media representatives from within and outside the country. The weapons were brought in by scores of GAM members who came in a convoy of four-wheel-drive vehicles. After the handover, the weapons were marked and then destroyed. Each of the weapons, which included AK47 and M16 assault rifles, was sawed into three pieces by members of the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM). Similar weapons handover ceremonies were also being held in Sigli (110km from Blang Padang) and Bireun (220km from Blang Padang) and would be followed by the withdrawal of 30,000 government troops from the province. The handing over of all 840 weapons agreed by GAM will take three days. GAM's former negotiator Irwandi Yusuf told reporters that 78 weapons including bazookas, mortar launchers and pistols were handed over to AMM here today. Sofyan said the event was a good beginning for the effort to restore peace in Aceh which has a population of four million. The peace agreement was quickened by the massive destruction of properties and lives in the province by the tsunami on Dec 26 last year. |
| Posted by:Pappy |