Aceh's arduous journey to peace
Konrad Huber
Huber highlights three primary factors that facilitated the success of Aceh's current peace initiative. First, the circumstances of both the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were significantly altered: martial law in May 2003 substantially degraded GAM's battlefield capacity; but it did not conclusively remove the GAM military threat. Second, external mediation led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari in 2005 was more adroit than previous efforts. Third, Ahtisaari's expertise meant that the agreement reached between the Indonesian government and the GAM included a comprehensive political settlement, rather than the sequential approach adopted in previous efforts.
