Assignment “ Interviewing Counseling and Negotiation “

The Free Aceh Movement ( Gerakan Aceh Merdeka ) was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region in Northern Sumatera from Indonesia. The group was in a steady armed conflict with the Indonesian government for 29 years from 1976 until 2005. In total more then 15.000 people have been killed during the conflict. Due to the mediation lead by an NGO called the Crisis Management Initiative the conflict was resolved in 2005 leading to a surrender of the GAM.

During the colonization of the Dutch in 1800 Banda Aceh was the center of resistance against the suppression of the Dutch colonizer. After the end of the colonization the Dutch handed the region over to Indonesia. According to the Aceh authorities they have not been consulted in this regard. The subsequent armed rebellion in Aceh lead to the granting of a special status by the ruling president Sukarno. Aceh consequently was sovereign in all policies regarding religion, custom law and education.

The GAM has been founded by Hasan di Tiro, an Acehnese citizen. In 1976 after the discovery of large gas resources in Lhokseumawe di Tiro applied for a pipeline contract. After he was outbid by an American company he blamed the Indonesian government for his loss. Furthermore his brother died at the same time due to what di Tiro considered as negligent behaviour of a Javanese doctor. After di Tiro found the GAM in 1977 he organized the first minor actions, involving the killing of an American engineer in 1977.

As a reaction to the actions of the newly founded GAM the central government send a small number of military troups to Aceh. The aim was to end the operations of the GAM. By the end of 1977 the GAM was almost neutralized and its leader di Tiro was forced to leave the country to Malaysia. In 1989 however the GAM successfully regrouped, partly due to the financial support from Libya and Iran. Next to the financial support the both countries also trained military personal and helped to create a military division counting 1000 armed men.

The Indonesian government realized the threat deriving from the now much better organized and trained GAM. Consequently it send Special military troops to Aceh in order to defeat and finally neutralize the GAM. The methods used by the Indonesian troops were controversial discussed within Indonesia as they included the torture and displacement of family members of people that were suspected to belong to the GAM. The large scale military actions neutralized the GAM a second time and forced the remaining forces to flee to Malaysia.

In the aftermath of the election of Jusuf Habibie as Indonesian President in 1998 the remaining troops were withdrawn from Aceh. This gave new space to the GAM to regroup and recruit new Members. Part of their strategy now was to spread cruel stories about the Indonesian military and its actions against the Aceh people. Due to massive weapon smuggling from Thailand the GAM created a new, good equipped military and police force counting 50.000 men. Around the year 2000 the violence against Indonesian government official and Javanese people dramatically raised. In 2001 the Indonesian army launched the major offence against the GAm troops in Aceh.

During 200 and 2004 several Peace talks between representatives of the Indonesian government and the GAM have been launched. None of these talks resulted in a long lasting Peace agreement. Even though several ceasefires were agreed on,the violence broke out again only shortly after the initial agreement. Between 2002 and 2004 the government killed approximately 50% of the GAMs forces including its commander Abdullah Syafei. The major event changing the approach of both, the GAM and the Indonesian government was the Tsunami causing great destruction in Aceh. The large destruction and the subsequent massive humanitarian challenges forced both parties to declare a ceasefire.
The success of the following mediation was first and foremost based on the will of both parties to rebuild Aceh and solve the enormous problems caused by the Tsunami. As both parties realized that the peace talks were necessary to rescue Aceh, the NGO Crisis Management Initiative and its head, the former Finish Prime Minister Martti Ahtisaari were appointed as the Mediators.

The backgrounds of the mediation were still not promising however, all parties having in mind two failed mediations in only four years.

The new mediator Martti Ahtisaari stated the doctrine “ nothing is agreed until everything is agreed on “as the principle of the negotiations. His role as the mediator has been lauded by both parties due to his impartiality.

The main question of the mediation process was if Aceh should become independent or stay part of Indonesia. In the beginning both parties did not develop any confidence in each other. Particular the Indonesian military suspected the GMA to use the Peace talks as a break for reenforcement without any true intention to reach an agreement.

The GMA smoothed the way of the mediation after declaring in February 2005 their willingness to wave their main demand of a complete independence of Aceh. The compromise option was a self governance of Aceh under the Flag of the Indonesian state. The central government agreed to this proposal and gave the concession of local Acehnese parties leading the businesses of the state.

The success of the Memorandum of Understanding that was subsequently signed was based on the fact that did not only include the key outcome of the mediation. It did much rather include provisions regarding all points that had potential for misunderstandings or conflict of interest between both parties. These points included the relationship between the Acehnese and the Indonesian government, human rights, the rule of law, Acehs economy and the precise number of Indonesian military forces on Acehs territory. One reason for the failure of the first two mediations was the absence of an effective controlling mechanism. There was no mechanism that controlled if both parties hold up to their commitments. The 2005 Memorandum, of Understanding however was monitored by the Aceh Monitoring Mission. This Mission was founded by the European Union and some Members of the Asean ( Association of South East Asian Nations ).

Until today the mediation has been successful and the MoU not been breached. There is opposition to the agreements in the MoU within the central government and especially the military though. Furthermore some provisions in the MoU are vaguely worded and misinterpretation regarding the political rights of Aceh possible. Moreover there is still a major nationalistic movement in Aceh in addition to corruption and misgovernance.

It therefore remains to be seen if the MoU can live up the expectations to be a peaceful, comprehensive and sustainable solution.