Jakarta, Sept 29: Peace talks between Aceh separatists and the Indonesian government slated for mid October in Switzerland will hammer out ways to end hostilities in their 25-year conflict, a rebel spokesman said on Sunday.
"We have been given proposals by the Indonesian government earlier this month on how to carry out a cessation of hostilities," said Bachtiar Abdullah, a spokesman for the Free Aceh Movement, in a phone interview from Stockholm, Sweden, where the movement's government-in-exile is based.
"We are currently studying it and will discuss it in mid October," he said.
Rebels want independent international mediators to monitor the cease-fire, which Jakarta has previously opposed but now supports, according to Abdullah.
The two sides entered into a cease-fire in 2000 but that collapsed the following year amid escalating bloodshed.
Bureau Report
