Indonesia’s Aceh Rebel Movement Disarms
Indonesia’s Aceh rebels formally disbanded their armed wing today, fulfilling the next step of a tsunami-inspired peace plan to end one of Asia’s longest separatist conflicts.
“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.”
The action would take effect immediately, he said.
The move paves the way for the group, which sustained a bloody insurgency against government troops for almost 30 years, to transform itself into a political party that is expected to win strong support in provincial elections planned for April.
The announcement was made shortly after rebel representatives met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, the area hit hardest by the Indian Ocean tsunami one year ago.
The devastation the disaster wrought spurred the peace deal, under which the government will withdraw troops and grant the Acehnese special autonomy in exchange for the rebels laying down their guns.
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