US Ambassador: I Won’t Interfere in Aceh

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The United States offered to facilitate in solving the Acehnese problem. This statement by US Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce caught people’s attention. Interviewed by Tempo News Room at his office on Friday evening (15/2), following his trip to North Sumatra, Boyce said that the offer would be conditionally implemented if Indonesia requested it. There has been no official request from Indonesia for the US to be a facilitator. Boyce explained during his recent visit to Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) that he had offered to be a facilitator, not a mediator. “There is a difference between a mediator and a facilitator,” he said. Boyce explained that a facilitator would ask other countries to support Indonesia in holding a dialog with the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM). “As a mediator, the US would have to contact the two sides [Indonesia and GAM] and be actively involved in monitoring the cease fire and take part in all phases of the solution to the conflict,” Boyce added. The US did not want to be a mediator in the Aceh problem, Boyce said, but it did not mean that the White House is reluctant to support Indonesia. “We see the conflict in Aceh as a problem that must be solved by Indonesians themselves,” Boyce said. As a facilitator, the US will not be interfering in Aceh, Boyce added. The US had further repeatedly reaffirmed its position regarding the conflict between Indonesia and GAM. “We do not support GAM’s demand to separate from Indonesia. We do not support any movement that wants to separate Aceh from Indonesia. We have repeatedly restated the US commitment to support Indonesia’s territorial integrity,” he said. (Widjajanto/Dyah Prabandari)