Rebels in Indonesia's Aceh start handing in weapons

By Jerry Norton

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Former rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province began handing in their weapons to foreign monitors on Thursday under a landmark peace agreement that ended one of Asia's longest running conflicts.

The weapons handover is one of the most important elements of the accord, signed in Helsinki on Aug. 15. Some 15,000 people, mainly civilians, were killed in 30 years of war.

Wearing jeans and T-shirts, former fighters of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) arrived at a field in the provincial capital Banda Aceh in a convoy of vehicles and promptly pulled out a range of automatic weapons and rifles from white sacks. At least one grenade launcher was given up.

"I feel sad. It's like handing over my wife," said former GAM member Muzakir, 30, after handing in his ageing rifle.

"For me, she is like my wife because I sleep with her. I also am happy because I want to see Aceh like it was, at peace."

The European-led Aceh Monitoring Mission said 87 guns would be given up as part of the first stage of decommissioning.

GAM members held up weapons to a crowd of 200 journalists before they handed them over. Monitors checked them for ammunition before placing them into electric saws to be cut up.

"This morning's decommissioning is one of the most important steps in the whole peace process," said Britain's ambassador to Indonesia, Charles Humfrey, representing the European Union.

The accord has raised hopes among Aceh's four million people -- still suffering from last December's devastating tsunami -- that they could finally live in peace.

But disputes over GAM disarmament have helped scuttle previous peace deals, the most recent in 2003.

"This is a test of trust building," said Kusnanto Anggoro, a prominent defence analyst in Jakarta.

Teungku Darmansyah, a senior GAM political leader in one of Aceh's districts on the northern tip of Sumatra island, made clear that implementation would not be without its hiccups.

"In the future, we want to stand on our own feet, with our own government. I'm now following orders from my superiors and will temporarily stay silent because of the peace process."

In return for laying down their arms, laws will be changed to allow GAM to form a political party after they earlier gave up demands for independence. Former fighters will also be given land and help with re-integrating into society.

QUESTIONS OVER ARSENAL

GAM is expected to hand in 210 weapons during the next three days. It has said some 3,000 rebels have 840 guns. The rest will be given up in three later stages before the end of the year.

Indonesia's government has said the military was comfortable with the number of weapons that GAM has stated as its arsenal.

Anggoro said he believed the number could be two to three times higher, possibly held by GAM splinter groups. Monitors said 840 was agreed by both sides, so they would rely on that.

Jakarta will withdraw 25 percent of its troop and police reinforcements roughly simultaneously over the four stages of the decommissioning, cutting security forces in Aceh in half.

The final withdrawal under the Helsinki accord will leave Aceh with 14,700 soldiers and 9,100 police. Some 1,300 police left Aceh on Wednesday.

The rebels and the government were pushed back to the negotiating table after a massive earthquake and tsunami on Dec. 26 left 170,000 people dead or missing in Aceh.

Anggoro said prospects for a lasting peace were much better than under previous attempts.

"First, internally GAM is not as strong as before. Secondly, the tsunami had a huge effect on the need for a lasting truce. I think international pressure is much heavier now," he said.

Indonesia imposed martial law in Aceh in 2003 and launched a major military offensive in the wake of the most recent failed attempt at peace, making significant gains on the battlefield.

Indonesia has already freed hundreds of GAM prisoners under a sweeping amnesty. In total, 2,000 GAM members are expected to be released, although the number so far freed is not clear.

(With additional reporting by Ade Mardiyaty in Banda Aceh and Achmad Sukarsono and Ade Rina in Jakarta)

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