No reconstruction without peace in Aceh

MONTASIEK, Indonesia, (AFP) - Were it not for the Indian Ocean tsunami, Ibrahim bin Yatim would still be smuggling guns for separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province, instead of standing behind a wok cooking spicy noodles.

For the peace process and rebuilding of tsunami-devastated Aceh to continue smoothly he must stay behind his wok, and other fighters must be successfully reintegrated into society to prevent instability, aid workers say.

"There is no reconstruction if there is no peace," says Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, director of the Aceh Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) which was in charge of a 1.1 billion dollar budget this year.

Bin Yatim is in no hurry to return to the life of a guerrilla.

Twice a month he and several other fighters made the six-hour speedboat journey to Malaysian waters to bring back M-16s, AK-47s and other weapons.

Firefights with government forces were frequent, he says.

"Guys often got wounded. Two died," the slightly-built, soft-spoken man says at his small noodle stall.

"Things are better now. I'm happier," says bin Yatim, who married in August. Other former fighters have not been as fortunate.

In a report this month, the World Bank noted extreme unemployment and growing dissatisfaction among demobilized rebels, while a former GAM commander told AFP that if the peaceful path fails, he and others are ready to take up arms again.

The December 26, 2004 earthquake and tsunami left more than 168,000 people dead or missing in Aceh, by far the largest toll of any nation struck by the disaster.

In Aceh, the tsunami only added to the pain of a province suffering from almost 30 years of war between separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and Indonesian government forces.

Nearly 15,000 people died in the long conflict before the tsunami, which sparked a massive international aid and reconstruction effort, and provided the impetus for a peace deal between GAM and the government last year.

Former rebels say they would still be at war if the natural disaster had not occurred. "If there was no tsunami, for sure there would be no peace," bin Yatim, 26, said at his noodle stand surrounded by rain-soaked rice fields in Montasiek sub-district outside the capital Banda Aceh.

The inland region was untouched by the tsunami.

Arrested in 2004, bin Yatim was released and granted amnesty following the peace deal that made him eligible for an International Organization for Migration (IOM) programme to reintegrate former political prisoners.

By the end of this year, about 2,070 prisoners will have gone through the programme designed to get them started in business, said Paul Dillon, spokesman for the intergovernmental agency.

Many former detainees were not active rebels like bin Yatim but suppliers, spies or ordinary citizens caught simply giving drinks to guerrillas.

Rather than cash, participants in the IOM programme get a package worth 10 million rupiah (1,100 dollars), 10 percent given as training and the rest in goods, Dillon said.

On his release, bin Yatim returned home with a separate 500 dollar handout which he used to open his rented stall, known as a "warung".

He upgraded it later with the IOM training package that helped him get a refrigerator, a hot and cold water dispenser, gas stove, television, and DVD player which he uses to show free action movies.

Empty yellow noodle packets filled a cardboard box beneath his wok on one recent night -- evidence of the busy evening that concluded his 12-hour work day. He says his income has roughly doubled since he upgraded with IOM's help.

The stall, built of bricks and wooden planks, only has room for two small tables covered in black and white vinyl. "I want to make it bigger," he says. "And we want to get more films." In the afternoon, rain beats against the metal roof. "It's leaking."

He says he is still waiting for renovation money from BRA, the government agency set up to oversee distribution of reintegration assistance.

Under the peace deal, the Indonesian government and Aceh authorities are required to provide "economic facilitation" to former combatants, pardoned political prisoners and affected civilians.

"The parties are deeply convinced that only the peaceful settlement of the conflict will enable the rebuilding of Aceh after the tsunami disaster on December 26, 2004 to progress and succeed," says the agreement, which defines the number of GAM combatants as 3,000.

Growing frustration

Sofyan Dawood, spokesman for the Aceh Transitional Committee (KPA) which replaced GAM, says the reintegration money is insufficient.

"There is only about 25 million or 30 million rupiah per person," not enough to assist civilians linked to GAM who also need help, he says.

One former GAM district commander told AFP he has not received any support.

"From what I heard, that money is about 25 million per member," said the veteran guerrilla who asked not to be identified. "We have just heard a lot of promises."

The ex-commander is now a casual construction labourer but said that during December he was idle -- like most of his fellow former fighters.

World Bank estimates say 75 percent of GAM returnees are unemployed.

A Bank report noted growing frustration at the pace of reintegration assistance and growing resentment at both the government and GAM leadership, "particularly amongst the younger, lower ranking former combatants who see their superiors driving new cars and sporting mobile phones while they have nothing."

BRA money has been slow to reach combatants, it added. The Bank said "crime rates are beginning to rise as disillusioned ex-GAM turn to 'alternative' income generation methods". It cautioned that as former combatants see no real benefits from the peace they will become less invested in it.

"If independence cannot come through peace, we must go forward by whatever means, including war," says the former GAM commander, who denied that demobilized rebels were turning to crime.

The World Bank also noted "serious inequalities" in provision of aid and services to tsunami and conflict affected areas.

"This may provide a basis for future unrest," it said.

The former GAM commander questioned where the money meant for tsunami survivors was going.

"I see a lot of them still in barracks," says the commander, whose own home was untouched by the disaster.

Dillon, of IOM, said his agency's livelihood programme should address worries about the fate of former combatants. After starting with ex-prisoners, the program is being extended to the 3,000 rebels who were still in the field at the time of the peace deal.
The first of those 3,000 were registered this month and by the end of June all should be set up in their own businesses, IOM officers say.

"The program works," Dillon says. But the former rebel commander raised doubts about the figure of 3,000 combatants identified in the peace agreement and eligible for aid.

"Just the field troops alone are more than 10,000," he says.

Muhammad Nazar, likely to be named Aceh's deputy governor after December 11 elections mandated by the peace pact, said reintegration of the former fighters will be a major task for him and the prospective governor, Irwandi Yusuf.

Most rebel field commanders backed Nazar and Irwandi in the elections, but the former GAM commander who spoke to AFP said he did not wage war so that GAM could sit in the governor's chair.

"This is not our goal. Our goal is independence, not to once again become the underling of the colonizer," he said. Such talk does not sway bin Yatim.

He says even when he risked his life for GAM, he did not want independence.

"No. I just wanted peace and for Aceh to be given special rights... We need special attention from the government, because independence is a long way off."

He worries there could be more violence in the province still trying to recover from war and one of history's worst natural disasters.

"But I hope there will be everlasting peace."