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Southeast Asia
Aceh Rebels Disband Armed Wing
2005-12-27
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia's Aceh rebels formally disbanded their armed wing on Tuesday in a major step toward ending one of Asia's longest separatist conflicts. The announcement came shortly after rebel representatives met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province. ``The Acehnese national army, or the armed wing of the Free Aceh Movement, has demobilized and disbanded,'' Sofyan Daud, a former rebel commander, told reporters. ``The Aceh national army is now part of civil society, and will work to make the peace deal a success.''

Since the signing of a peace agreement in August, the former fighters have handed in all of their self-declared 840 arms and the Indonesian military has withdrawn nearly 20,000 troops from Aceh - with hundreds more scheduled to leave before the month's end.
840? How many thousands are buried in the jungle for future use?
With the sensitive phase of disarmament and decommissioning near completion, the government will start preparing laws giving the rebels the right to form a political party and cementing the region's right to greater autonomy and control of its natural resources.
Posted by:Steve White

#3  I couldn’t agree with you more in that their fight is not with us. Their fight is with an indifferent and corrupt government. I should have highlighted the term “nation building”. I think we have opportunity to go in there and help as they rebuild their nation and influence the way they rebuild, not a USAID handout program, but in an effort to build friendly relations in that area and drive a wedge between the Muslim people of Indo and the OIC.
Posted by: 49 pan   2005-12-27 10:09  

#2  I tend to disagree. If I am not mistaken, the Aceh rebel arguement is not with the West so our help won't do anything to mitigate the causes of the original conflict. The quicker they rebuild with our help, the quicker the conflict will resume. OTOH if the rebels and the gov't rebuild the country together, with all the accompanying difficulties, hard work, emotional and physical investment, Indonesia has a much greater chance of being unified. People place a greater value on things they worked for than things that were given to them.
Posted by: Scott R   2005-12-27 09:20  

#1  Half the Aceh rebels were washed out to sea a year ago. The sad truth seems to be it was not a peace agreement by both sides wanting peace that brought this about. No one wants to go fight some insurgency when just surviving is difficult. We, the Western world, should be there in mass helping to nation build that area. Now is our chance. If we don't then Steve's comment will ring true, as soon as they can recover they will stand back up and fight.
Posted by: 49 pan   2005-12-27 08:31  

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