Indonesia Frees Aceh Fighters

The Indonesian government began releasing more than 1,400 Aceh rebel fighters Wednesday as it moved to implement a peace accord aimed at ending nearly three decades of war in the battered province.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, taking the first step to carry out the agreement, granted a blanket amnesty to the rebels, including those imprisoned for treason and any exiled leaders of the Free Aceh Movement willing to reclaim Indonesian citizenship

“This is something spectacular,” said Amni Ahmad Marzuki, a former rebel negotiator who was released after more than two years in prison. “The violence of the past 30 years brought us nowhere, while talking heart-to-heart for six months has produced peace as the solution.”

The amnesty decree and release of prisoners triggered celebrations in Aceh, where many residents are hopeful that the agreement will lead to a lasting peace.

The next crucial step will come in mid-September when rebels still camped in the jungles are expected to begin turning in their weapons.

In a speech to newspaper editors this week, Yudhoyono called the peace agreement an “incredible breakthrough.” The president, who took office 10 months ago, said he never imagined that peace could be reached so quickly with the Free Aceh Movement, known by its Indonesian acronym GAM.

“The re-integration of former GAM members into Indonesian society will make Indonesia more united and strong,” he said. “What we need to do urgently now is to ensure that the various elements of the peace deal are immediately translated into living reality on the ground.”

The international spotlight cast on Aceh after the December tsunami disaster, which destroyed half of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, helped revive peace negotiations.

At the time, the region was under military rule, after a U.S.-backed peace effort unraveled in 2003. The Indonesian government had arrested five of the rebel negotiators, including Marzuki. They were to have served a term ending in 2016.

Aceh, on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra, once was a powerful state that maintained its independence, fighting off the Dutch for nearly a century. Aceh was incorporated into Indonesia when the Netherlands withdrew from the region after World War II, but many Acehnese never accepted their new rulers.

Acehnese rebels began fighting for independence from Indonesia in 1976 and the ensuing war claimed more than 15,000 lives.

During talks in Helsinki, Finland, this year, the rebels reluctantly agreed to give up their bid for independence in exchange for autonomy and a 70% share of government revenue generated in the region.

Under the president’s decree, the amnesty will be extended to all Free Aceh Movement members except those who committed nonpolitical crimes or who continue to take up arms.

Rebels outside the country who gave up their Indonesian citizenship, including the exiled leadership in Sweden, will have six months to renounce any foreign citizenship and formally declare loyalty to Indonesia.

The president signed the decree Tuesday and the release of prisoners began early Wednesday.

Most of the prisoners were being held in Aceh, but nearly 500 had been imprisoned on the island of Java. Most had been serving terms of one to five years, but some had been sentenced to 20.

More than 74 inmates who were being held at Java’s Sukamiskin Prison in Bandung were taken about 100 miles by bus to Jakarta before dawn and put on a plane to Aceh.

“I am very optimistic,” said Nashiruddin Ahmad, another of the arrested negotiators, as he checked his luggage for the flight to Aceh. “It’s a natural process and I have faith in it. We have the seed of democracy and we have to nurture it. It’s our responsibility.”

Prisoners flown in from Java were taken to a soccer stadium in Banda Aceh, where hundreds of family members were gathered to meet them. Relatives cried and hugged the rebels as they arrived.

“I am very happy I can see my husband again,” said Dewi Mutia, 29, whose husband, Mohammed Nazar, was serving a five-year sentence at Malang Prison in East Java. “It has been two years since I saw him, and I missed him very much.”

Many of the prisoners lost family members in the tsunami while they were incarcerated, and Wednesday was their first chance to meet surviving relatives or survey the damage.

Among them was Marzuki, 39, who said nine members of his extended family were washed away by the tsunami.

Despite serving two years in prison, Marzuki did not appear to be bitter. Like other freed rebels, he said he was optimistic about the prospects for peace under the Helsinki agreement.

“Solving Aceh’s problems has to be done in a peaceful way,” he said. “GAM has given up the desire to win independence by using guns. But the most important thing is the responsibility of both parties to implement the agreement.”

Dinda Jouhana of The Times’ Jakarta Bureau contributed to this report.