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GAM to surrender weapons to government tomorrow
The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists starts on Monday surrendering 200 more weapons in Indonesia's Aceh province as part of a peace deal to end 29 years of fighting, peace monitors were quoted as saying by the "JakartaPost" online tonight. A peace deal signed in Finland in August calls for the rebels to surrender all of their self-declared 840 weapons, and for the Indonesian military to cut the 60,000 troops it has in the oil-and gas-rich province by the year's end.Gam has already handed in 570 weapons, and the Indonesian government has pulled out 12,000 of 24,000 troops, the EU-led monitors overseeing the process said in a statement Sunday. It added that three earlier attempts have failed to end the Aceh war, which has claimed 15,000 lives. However, the devastating earthquake and its subsequent tsunami last December 26 had played a key factor in speeding up the reconciliation process between the two warring parties in Aceh province. Posted by: Fred 2005-11-14 |
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